(03-10-2013, 06:13 AM)Ayem Wrote: I would bring paragraphs.

One thing you might forget in your haste to pick characters of different disciplines is that a great many people change their vocations and specialisms part way through their lives, or pursue them simultaneously as polymaths. Alan Turing was a philosopher, programmer and mathematician. Leonardo Da Vinci was an artist and engineer. Sir Christopher Wren was an astronomer, mathematician-physicist, architect and anatomist. Marcus Aurelius was a philosopher, co-emperor of rome and a general in the field. Arnold Schwarzeneggar is an actor, producer, director, was a state governor and was a professional body builder.

The list goes on.

One of the greatest issues with the Alien prequel, Prometheus, was in the scripts devotion to type, rather than character. You had the "biologist", the "archaeologist(s)" the "impatient heir apparent" and the like. They were cardboard, and whatever character they'd developed in one scene would be utterly contradicted in the next. The only characters that actually seemed human were the bridge crew, in my opinion.

This focus on type was then further destabilized by submission to illogical plotting. The "geologist" whose speciality seems to be mapping cave structures, somehow gets lost in a cave structure he's only just mapped. Lost for hours. The people who -didn't- map the cave have no trouble finding their way out. And I'm not even going to get started on the "biologist" and his scientific method.

I have worked on the line in factories, as a gardener and landscaper, painter and decorator, and in universities. Each has shaped my understanding of the world and lie in my mind like a palimpsest, each experience influencing my recollection of the others.

I'd recommend reading "Pushing Ice" by Alastair Reynolds or "Eon" by Greg Bear, since those are among the finest novels I've read and are closely relevant to your subject. Eon is dated, while Pushing Ice is quite recent, published 2005. The characters are consistent, but adaptive in their arcs.

(03-10-2013, 05:24 AM)DSE)Ghost.Town Wrote: I feel we should bring to the human meeting (some of these will be weeded out for a number of reasons): World leaders (of all countries regardless of government, Scientists (of all denominations: physicist, biologists, physicians, psychologists, anthropologists, astronomers, theoretical physicists. Physicist in all their breeds or this will be far too long, as it's already too long, Artists of all types, painters, dancers, writers, singers, musicians, sculptors, etc. Religious leaders (of all world religions, as long as the religion's believers constitute .5% of the worlds population (the .5% if arbitrary, but you get the idea), Military Generals and high ranking staff members in the military, Linguists (of all known languages and especially those who pick up new languages quick (think, we may even be dealing with non-vocal languages or languages that the human voice just can't pull off), so we'll have to pull in body language experts and hope that they (the aliens) have similar body language (though they may not even look like us), we'd bring babies, children & adolescents as well as elderly people (both boys and girls, so they see how humans grow and change over time). SUPPOSED UFO experts (who knows some of them may have been legit or very close), heads of trade organizations as trade between cultures usually keeps them on peaceful terms. We could have plentiful amounts of an item they consider priceless or lifesaving and vice versa, trade is a must. several We'd need severl people each with different backgrounds from a variety of races, white, black, asian, spanish, etc, showing the differences within our own race and the differences between these people's cultures, as well as the differences in stations, specifically where they work and where they live and what they eat, how they survive. Their outlook on life, (and this goes for all members, no one elected for this group got in just because of their job, their whole being is there for the aliens to get information from). Farmers and the soil/light/tools they need to practice and teach their craft, or with videos showing them working throughout a season and with them on hand to answer questions. Engineers and Architects are a must, many, many, many engineers. ETC. Please let me know who you'd bring and I'd really appreciate it.