Movie: Prometheus

[Y]

Doesn't that actually make sense? If it was a more informed person, he would come up with all sorts of theories and couldn't pick one without much more evidence. But an ordinary grunt will stick to his first idea and believe it's the absolute truth - unless a better alternative is crammed down his throat (literally in Alien's case).

This is a great bit of writing - a serious-minded military guy extrapolating his life experiences out into a framework to understand the world and believing in it with absolute certainty despite no real evidence, in a movie about the dichotomies of science and faith.

EDIT:

When people see this scene they often ask "How the hell does he know?" when he gives the explanation. He doesn't. He wants to know. Not coincidentally, this ties in with a lot of the themes of the movie.