As we were talking about the role of genetics as well as how to determine some notion of species-based superiority ("should humanity cede their future to the Oankali" being one of the key discussions in these books), I started to realize that watching Alien would be an excellent avenue to have a similar discussion but in a very different direction. The xenomorph is an interesting counterpoint to the Oankali, because one can make many of the same arguments from Lilith's Brood about biological superiority, yet the arguments sound somewhat more preposterous.

As with the Oankali, the xenomorph's reproduction involves humans, albeit in a considerably more violent way--the Oankali constructs do not burst their way through the chest of their parents. The key distinction, of course, is that reproduction is essentially all the xenomorphs do with their lives, lacking all other signs of intelligent life. Since aliens are often defined by their supposed 'superiority' in some way to humans (everything from the logic of the Vulcans to the enormous city-ships in Independence Day), the xenomorphs represent a species whose superiority is for once completely distinct from the intellect. As Ian Holm's character states, the alien is "a survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse or delusions of morality".

There is no question that the xenomorph is "superior", as we like to phrase it, to humanity in the arena of physicality, but the deep and fundamental questions that we've been asking ourselves about humanity and the Oankali seem to just bounce off this alien species as ridiculous. Why is it that when we read about the Oankali's advanced science, we start thinking that maybe we've had a good run and its time to toss in the towel, but when we see the Alien ripping through people, climbing on walls, and spraying acidic blood, we just cross our fingers that Ripley will find some way of killing this thing? Why do we consider intellectual evolution as a force beyond our control, but physical evolution is just a reason to design a bigger gun?

P.S. As an additional fun avenue of discussion, there's a quote from Ximena Gallardo, who wrote a book called "Alien Woman: The Making of Lt. Ellen Ripley" that I thought someone might want to run with:

"It [the xenomorph] subdues and opens the male body to make it pregnant, and then explodes it in birth. In its adult form, the alien strikes its victims with a rigid phallic tongue that breaks through skin and bone. More than a phallus, however, the retractable tongue has its own set of snapping metallic teeth that connects it to the castrating vagina dentata"