Why weren't they talking about ...

Why weren't they talking about the aliens? They speculated a bit on why they were taken. But they seemed to decide pretty quickly "they took us to observe us, and only one of us can survive." But nothing about "what do we know about the aliens, and can we use it to get out of this situation?"

I know the aliens were just a plot device for the environment they were in, and I'm missing the point. But I couldn't help but wonder.