Why so much faith in Eli?

[eonflux]

Going to be short. Eli is mathboy'. His strength is maths. NO WAY he can know all in such a short period of time. Just not humanly possible. Also it never has been asatblished that anyone else except Rush read ancient very well.

[Franklyn Blaze]

Also it never has been asatblished that anyone else except Rush read ancient very well.

Huh? It's not Chinese on those consoles, and a lot of them can read it, why else bother looking at screens.

[Count]

Eli is the closest thing to an expert left on the ship, i mean the other scientists are good, but Eli played around on "Prometheus" for so long that he's bound to have picked up a better understanding of ancient tech in real-life (even though it's virtual) applications then the scientists who just study non-working remenants and theoretical models).

Besides, as Young said, Eli has a habit of pulling their asses out of the fire. He's the only one whose shown enough ingenuity to try and problem solve then anyone else on the ship, scientists included. PRoducts of his clever out of the box thinking include: Kino documentaries to help in time travel disasters, Kino based hoverboard, Diverting power from shuttle to controls and hacking the DHD to dial a 9 chevron address. Not to mention with no prior experience he was able to handle ANCIENT Ancient technology after just looking at it briefly (Lockdown functions for the hull breached sections).

[Giantevilhead]

They don't just want to survive, they want to go home to earth. Eli wants to go home, Rush doesn't.

[kaliel]

Because everyone believes that Rush is only out for himself, that he'll use them and lie to them.
Eli, on the other hand, is young and rather innocent. He'll follow Young's orders, do what's best for the people aboard Destiny, and agreed to inform the 'grunts' about what's going on.

Overall, though Rush may be better qualified, Eli is, or almost is, on the same intelligence level and is a more honest and trustworthy person.

Who would you trust? The grumpy ******* who treats everyone like they're not worth his time, or the kid who tries to please people?
I like Rush, but he doesn't win any favours with the crew.

[eonflux]

Huh? It's not Chinese on those consoles, and a lot of them can read it, why else bother looking at screens.

Sry but that was established in light. But seriously it's a fantasy show. Do you really think people think about stuff like this like we do. Do you really think there is someone at the studio to point out if looking at a screen makes sense. If so please give me that job?

But anyways how do you know it's not chinees you can't see what they are looking at in any shot. And to mention the windows like interface if very inefficient to work with. The interface is just lol it makes no sense its just candy.

@count
Eli himself said red is usually bad.

[thekillman]

might i say that as a guy with 4 languages up his brain, there's a gargantuan difference between reading and understanding? for example, english, my second language, is simple, i can understand it, formulate sentences and i do not need to translate. i can think in english. i can read and understand it on a level beyond mere "reading". even if the entire crew could read Ancient, it doesnt get them far. everyone would need a ton of paper or so to first translate, go over the translation, correct the mistakes and then go back and read what it actually says. rush, who can actually understand it, merely looks at the screen and knows what it says. eli knows what it says, but probably through a lot of translation. and besides, if you translate a lot, then you'll rapidly pick up the words wich frequently appear.

most scientists seem to have a meagre understanding and reading ability of ancient. Riley can only translate (earth=terra, not to hard a reference), some like Volker i believe can understand a bit but not perfectly ("if you do not see the signs, GET OUT!)

Daniel could read, speak, understand Ancient on a level very few can. Mckay no doubt can too. but for example, zelenka seems to have a bit more trouble with it, whereas Weir needed to translate

[wargrafix]

Rush is a used car salesman. He's got the lingo, but its all bull.

[Kaiphantom]

Trust is not a binary choice, as in fully trust or fully distrust. There are layers in between.

Rush - you can trust him to get the ship repaired and working. You can trust him to keep them alive (because it will keep him alive). And you know that he knows that he needs everyone to survive, so he'll work to keep people alive as best he can. However, there is some doubt that he will actually work to find a way home. In the end, his work is more important to him than anything else.

Eli - He's the only sane person of the crew. He's intelligent, wise, and a quick learner. He doesn't whine about things, he just goes and does them. He stands up for what he thinks is right. Unfortunately, being a nice guy is a bad thing in the world, as women don't want you, and the rest of the world will chew you up and spit you out. And if there is a way home, I bet Eli is gonna be the one to figure it out.

[garhkal]

Capable or not, Eli has earned more or less everyone's trust. Rush, on the other hand, isn't really being trusted by anyone. Brody, Park, and Volker started to trust him but now I doubt any of them will after the truth coming out about the deception.

Rush's entire philosophy is that other people are just a means for his own ends. It's a great inconsistency (some would say hypocrisy) in his logic that he's unwilling to undertake the very risks he deems necessary for the "greater good."

WARNING sorry for the slighly political bent here..

My mother likened his doing that to how islamic extremists get people to act as suicide bombers while they themselves do nothing.

[Pharaoh Atem]

wli is more trust worthy then rush simple as tha

[Skydiver]

Eli is probably the only person on the ship that doesn't have an agenda. he didn't manipulate or maneuver to get there, he was recruited, so to speak.

[thekillman]

he's kind of a blank slate. ie, he got on board and only was in icarus for about a day or so. the rest was working there for longer, and well, they had their friends and enemies. rush seems to be molding Eli for his own purposes(he only wants eli as a help) yet Young wants to mold him too ( making him go over the data etc)

he can be....shaped and changed to whatever person's likings

[Lightning Ducj]

Simple, Eli is available.

There's a difference between trust and faith of course. I think people have faith in Rush but don't really trust him, or at least see Eli as being more trustable than Rush. I still think Rush is given more faith by the crew and Eli is the backup there. But pretty much they put what faith and trust in Eli or Rush simply because they have no choice. Back on Earth, they would be able to pick the best available for any position. On Destiny, they have to play the cards they've been dealt. TJ as Doctor and Psychiatrist is a more pronounced example

[Azzers]

While I think it's true that Young doesn't trust Rush, I liken faith in Eli to the type of faith you put in a second doctor's opinion. You have your primary Doctor who might say what you want to hear or not. If you don't like what you hear, you need another Doctor to bounce it off of. Because even if you don't like it, you can't understand or have enough experience to call BS (unless of course you're also a doctor, but that's off topic.)

Eli isn't Rush, but I believe there is an understanding that he can figure out what Rush is doing and what logic is being used. He might not arrive as quickly at the solution, and you may not want him working on it in the heat of battle like Rush, but he's definitely capable of actually calling BS on Rush for logical reasons rather than simple distrust.

So I don't think it's faith, so much as it is trying to develop your option B. In Young's mind, I think that's exactly what Eli is.