Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, which opens in June, is getting a promotional push from the TED conference, which is of course the nation’s premiere gathering of Ted Danson impersonators, enthusiasts, and Danson-related industries (“Curve the Beer” is this year’s theme). The TED website recently posted this video of Peter Weyland, Guy Pearce’s character in Prometheus, giving a talk at the 2023 TED Talks. That’s the future! Though it’s nice to see rich guys slicking their hair back like Pat Riley won’t change in the next 11 years.

Peter Weyland is reportedly a character played by Guy Pearce in Ridley Scott’s highly anticipated film, “Prometheus,” an entrepreneur and the head of the Weyland Corporation who owns the Prometheus spaceship (and part of the Weyland-Yutani conglomerate that sent the Nostromo spaceship in “Alien”).

He illustrates the Greek myth of titan Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods to give to man. “When Prometheus was caught, and brought to justice for his theft, the gods, well you might say they overreacted a little. The poor man was tied to a rock as an eagle ripped through his belly and ate his liver and over and over, day after day, ad infinitum. All because he gave us fire, our first true piece of technology,” Weyland says.

“We are now three months into the year of our lord, 2023. At this moment in our civilization, we can create cybernetic individuals, who in just a few short years will be completely indistinguishable from us. Which leads to the obvious conclusion: we are the gods now,” Weyland says. [WSJBlog]

“My name is Peter Weyland, and if you’d indulge me, I’d like to change the world.”

True story, I never knew the part about the Prometheus story about the eagles and the liver eating and such. But Mr. Weyland forgets an equally important part of Prometheus myth. The part where Prometheus steals fire from the Gods and brings it back to his friend Steve, and Steve uses it to light a bong and he’s all like, “Dude,” (*huge bong rip*) “We should totally write a movie about aliens and shit.” (*cough, c0ugh*)