Alien: Earth: Whats the difference between cyborgs, synths, and hybrids?
Alien: Earth is packed so full of near-sociopathic characters that it's sometimes easy to lose track of whether you're dealing with an AI, a human, or some combination of the two.
The good news is, although there are various artificially intelligent beings in Noah Hawley's Alien universe prequel, the show starts by providing us with a handy guide to remember them all. We've transcribed that opening lore below, along with some more information (and examples) of the different types of being in Alien: Earth, from cyborgs to synths and hybrids.
What does the Alien: Earth intro tell us about cyborgs, synths and hybrids?
At the start of episode 1, text appears briefly explaining the difference between three beings: cyborgs, synths, and hybrids. We've transcribed it in full below:
"In the future the race for immortality will come in three guises:
Cybernetically enhanced humans: Cyborgs
Artificially intelligent beings: Synths
Synthetic beings downloaded with human consciousness: HybridsWhich technology prevails will determine what corporation rules the universe."
Let's break those three down in some more detail.
What are cyborgs?
Cyborgs have a rich history in sci-fi, and Alien: Earth is no exception. A cyborg is essentially a human being with some kind of robotic enhancement. We meet our first one fairly early on in the form of Morrow (Babou Ceesay), the head of security onboard Weyland-Yutani's USCSS Maginot, the doomed ship carrying multiple alien species that crash lands into Earth.
Morrow may have a fairly robotic demeanour, but he has the brain of a human. His arm, on the other hand, is pretty much a Swiss Army Knife, complete with a blade and various handy power tool attachments.
What are synths?
Remember Ash (Ian Holm) from the original Alien movie? He was a synthetic, which is basically an entirely man-made being with an AI brain. Our main Alien: Earth synth is Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), a Prodigy employee who works alongside Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and his new batch of hybrids (more on those below).
What are hybrids?
Synthetics crossed with humans, hybrids are Prodigy's brand new experiment and the core focus of Alien: Earth. Wendy (Sydney Chandler) is the first of a group of terminally ill children who have their consciousness' transferred into the bodies of synthetics. This means Wendy is capable of super-human speed and strength, but still has the memories and emotions of the little girl she was before her procedure.