Full transcript
0:08Come in. Come in. Sit down.
0:11Ah.
0:11>> [sighs]
0:12>> Number 271.
0:15Make yourself comfortable.
0:18That chair reclines a little if you want
0:20it to.
0:21Just sit however is most comfortable to
0:24you.
0:27Hm.
0:28So, let's get started.
0:31>> [sighs]
0:31>> I I'm Dr. Andy. Well,
0:35I'm not quite a doctor yet, but if this
0:37research goes well, then hopefully I
0:39will be.
0:41I genuinely cannot thank you enough for
0:43coming in tonight.
0:44I know it was very short notice, but
0:47thank you so much for signing up to be
0:49one of my research subjects.
0:52I know it's late, and the building's a
0:54little
0:55clinical,
0:57cold even. I'll try to warm it up for
1:00you.
1:02How did you um
1:04find us?
1:07Mhm.
1:10You found one of our leaflets. It was
1:12under your door.
1:14Excellent.
1:16It's good to know they're working.
1:18We're always looking for more subjects.
1:21However,
1:23well, this line of research, it can be
1:25hard to find people willing to come for
1:27testing.
1:28Again, just so glad you're here.
1:36Before we start, some housekeeping.
1:39Your compensation for tonight's session
1:41will auto transfer into your account the
1:43moment we're finished.
1:46No forms, no waiting period, just credit
1:50straight into your account. So, you
1:52don't have to think about it again.
1:55I just wanted you to hear that from me
1:57directly, so it's off your mind.
2:00I want you relaxed,
2:04loose, present.
2:07It'll make the tests more accurate if
2:08you're relaxed.
2:11Now, tonight I'm going to ask you to do
2:15a few things for me.
2:17Some of it will feel like a
2:19conversation.
2:21In a way, your examination has already
2:23started.
2:25But, some of it, I won't lie to you, it
2:28may feel a little strange.
2:32It'll be a mixture of more clinical
2:34tests along with some more casual ones.
2:37Either way, throughout this whole
2:39process,
2:41I need you to just respond the way you
2:44naturally would.
2:46Don't perform for me.
2:49Just be yourself.
2:51Besides,
2:53if you're lying, I'll know.
2:57That's not a threat or anything. It's
2:59just true.
3:02So,
3:03you're here because you volunteered for
3:06the Cognition and Continuity Among
3:08Synthetics and Humans Study,
3:10also known as C C A S H or cash,
3:15which is what you get when you work with
3:18us.
3:18>> [laughter]
3:19>> That's our tagline.
3:21>> [gasps]
3:21>> Had you heard of us or what we're doing
3:23here at all before tonight?
3:26Hm.
3:29And do you know what that name means?
3:34So, we are conducting research on both
3:37synthetics and humans, putting both
3:40through rigorous cognitive and
3:42psychological testing to try and
3:44establish the current rate of unaware
3:46synthetics within our population.
3:49Did you know it's theorized that most
3:52synths that live among us today
3:54are completely unaware of what they
3:56really are.
3:58Uh, as you could probably tell from the
4:00protesters outside,
4:02this is controversial research.
4:05But, important research in my opinion.
4:09A comprehensive and rigorous method for
4:11telling real humans and synths apart
4:14must be created.
4:17And we are at the forefront of that.
4:21And if you're here, then that means you
4:24agree.
4:26So,
4:28bringing up your file that's just been
4:30created for you,
4:32I can see that all of the paperwork you
4:34signed on the way in has already been
4:37uploaded.
4:38And your identity has been verified.
4:41That's perfect.
4:43Because that means
4:46somewhere on one of the many forms you
4:48signed,
4:49you agreed to let me look at you very,
4:52very closely.
4:55So,
4:56let's begin gently.
5:00Here.
5:01I brought this for you.
5:03It gets cold in these rooms this late.
5:06And cold subjects tense up. And tense
5:09subjects give me bad data.
5:11So,
5:13humor me.
5:14Wear it.
5:16Hm.
5:17Is that better?
5:20Good.
5:21Now,
5:22if you could close your eyes for me.
5:26There you go.
5:28Just breathe in
5:32and out.
5:35Slower than that.
5:38There is no wrong answer to anything
5:40that I'm about to ask.
5:42And there's no rush tonight.
5:45We have the whole lab to ourselves
5:48and the whole night
5:50and nowhere else that either of us needs
5:52to be.
5:56I want you to picture something for me
5:59before we even begin.
6:02Somewhere calm.
6:04It doesn't matter where.
6:06A beach, a forest,
6:10your childhood bedroom.
6:12Just hold it gently in your mind
6:16while I get my instruments ready.
6:21Focus with intention on the place you've
6:24chosen.
6:26How big is it?
6:29How does it smell?
6:32How does it feel beneath your feet?
6:35While you're in this place,
6:37are you wearing shoes?
6:42In your mind's eye, look down.
6:46Are you wearing shoes?
6:50Take your time. I'll wait.
6:55Good.
6:58You're already doing so well.
7:01>> [sighs]
7:03>> I'm going to shine a light near your
7:05eyes now.
7:06Nothing intrusive.
7:09Just close range.
7:11I need you to track it without moving
7:13your head.
7:14Just your eyes.
7:18Follow it
7:20left.
7:22Now right.
7:25Good.
7:26Up.
7:28Down.
7:30Perfect.
7:31Your pupils are reacting exactly the way
7:34they should.
7:35Dilating, contracting.
7:38You're textbook.
7:42Although that doesn't rule out anything
7:44anymore.
7:46It used to.
7:48Not anymore.
7:51I'm going to lean in a bit closer now
7:55and just feel your jaw.
7:58Just here.
8:02Can you feel that?
8:05Good.
8:07Clench for me.
8:10And release.
8:13Lovely.
8:15Very symmetrical.
8:18Now, I just like to feel
8:21right underneath your jaw
8:24and below the ears.
8:26Just checking the area for any
8:31obvious implants.
8:34To you, this will probably feel a bit
8:36like a massage.
8:38Just relax into it.
8:42Okay.
8:44I'm going to rest these two fingers just
8:47below your ear
8:49and along your jaw.
8:52And I want you to swallow for me when I
8:54ask.
8:56Ready?
8:58Now.
9:02Good. Good, very smooth.
9:06Do it once more, slower this time.
9:11Perfect. Thank you.
9:14Now, I just want you to speak.
9:17Just
9:19say something for me.
9:21Absolutely anything.
9:24You can tell me what you had for dinner.
9:26Tell me a memory.
9:29I don't care what. I'm not listening to
9:32the words.
9:33I'm listening to the shape of your
9:36voice.
9:37The micro tremors.
9:39The breath support behind it.
9:43And feeling the vibrations in your neck.
9:51There we go.
9:54Just keep going a little longer.
9:58There.
9:59That's what I needed.
10:02Wonderful. That part is all done.
10:07You know, most people tend to stop
10:09during that part.
10:11Your shoulders are still very loose,
10:12though.
10:14That's either very good
10:17or very well rehearsed.
10:20I haven't decided which yet.
10:24On to our next section.
10:27Can you hear that?
10:30Which side was louder?
10:33Left? Good. That's the correct answer.
10:38For what it's worth,
10:39real ears fatigue asymmetrically
10:43after an hour of ambient hum in this
10:45room.
10:46Synthetic auditory arrays don't.
10:50But yours did.
10:52So that is one point in your favor.
10:57I'm going to trace something along your
10:59forearm now.
11:02Nothing sharp, just this little thing.
11:06Tell me when you can't tell anymore
11:08whether it's touching you.
11:15Now.
11:16Okay.
11:18Interesting.
11:20Real skin loses precise localization
11:24faster than people expect.
11:26Just as yours did. Right on schedule.
11:31Good.
11:32You are proving yourself to be more and
11:34more human every minute.
11:36For some reason,
11:38I find myself really rooting for you.
11:42You know, I I don't know why I'm telling
11:44you that.
11:45I'm not supposed to.
11:50Okay, this is the last test for this
11:53section.
11:55I'm going to ask you to hum
11:57low
11:58for as long as you comfortably can.
12:01And I'm listening out for a waiver.
12:06Okay, deep breath in.
12:08Now, hum.
12:17There it is.
12:19The waiver.
12:20That beautiful, uncontrollable little
12:23waiver.
12:25You cannot fake that. I've tried. In
12:28this very lab.
12:30Alone at 2:00 in the morning. More than
12:31once.
12:34Um anyway, let's move on.
12:38I'm going to describe some shapes for
12:39you now.
12:41Projected shapes.
12:43Generated fresh for you tonight.
12:45Nobody's ever seen them before.
12:48Not even me until this very moment.
12:52And I want your first answer.
12:56Not your smartest answer.
12:58The one that first comes to mind.
13:02So.
13:05Here's the first.
13:07It's dark.
13:09>> [sighs]
13:09>> Radiating outwards.
13:12What do you see?
13:16Interesting.
13:18A synthetic would give me something
13:21clean.
13:22Symmetrical. A flower, a butterfly.
13:26Something matched to the most
13:28statistically likely human answer.
13:31You gave me something very specific.
13:34[laughter]
13:36A little sad, even.
13:38That's good. That's That's very good,
13:41actually.
13:43Second one.
13:46This one's brighter.
13:47Warm tones.
13:50It's moving much quicker.
13:53What does it feel like it's doing?
13:58You said reaching for something it can't
14:01have.
14:02That's
14:04That's exactly what I would have said.
14:10Sorry.
14:11>> [sighs and gasps]
14:12>> Let's continue.
14:15Third shape.
14:18This one is moving more slowly.
14:21If you watch it long enough, you can see
14:23it folding in on itself
14:26over and over.
14:29Does it feel like it's building
14:30something or undoing something?
14:36Undoing.
14:38All right.
14:39Why undoing?
14:45One more.
14:46And then we'll rest a moment.
14:49You deserve a small break.
14:52This last shape is quiet.
14:56Barely there. Almost the suggestion of a
14:59shape
15:00rather than a shape itself.
15:03What do you think it's trying to become?
15:11I like that answer very much.
15:14Good. Uh you can close your eyes fully
15:17now, if you'd like.
15:20Or keep them open. Whatever feels
15:22better.
15:23We're just going to talk for a while.
15:28To make sure you're still relaxed, I
15:30want you to breathe with me again, one
15:32more time.
15:34In.
15:38And out.
15:42And in.
15:46And out.
15:50There we go.
15:52I'm just going to say a word.
15:57You say the first thing that comes to
15:59mind. Don't think.
16:02Just say it.
16:05Home.
16:08Mother. [gasps]
16:12Ocean.
16:15Fear.
16:18Tomorrow.
16:22Good. Good. Very good.
16:25All very human answers.
16:29Slightly too good.
16:32If I'm honest.
16:34Real people usually hesitate more.
16:37Real people second-guess the word before
16:39it leaves their mouth.
16:41You didn't. At least not on most of
16:45them.
16:48Um.
16:50Let's try something different. Tell me
16:54about your earliest memory.
16:58It's okay if it's hazy.
17:01Or doesn't have a clean beginning.
17:04In fact, that's almost better.
17:08Take your time.
17:09I'm not going anywhere.
17:12>> [sighs]
17:12>> We can take as long as we want here.
17:25>> That's a good memory.
17:29It has texture.
17:31The smell, the temperature.
17:34The wrongness of a detail that doesn't
17:36matter, but you remember it anyway.
17:39Synths don't have that.
17:42Synths have memories that are too
17:45efficient.
17:47Too on topic.
17:51You're doing so well. [sighs]
17:54Tell me another one.
17:56A happy one.
17:58This time.
18:00Something small.
18:02Something
18:04you haven't told anyone in a while.
18:12>> [laughter]
18:13>> I love that.
18:15Truly, um wait, say it again. Slower.
18:19I want to sit inside that memory a
18:21moment longer.
18:27Thank you for that. [sighs]
18:29I mean it.
18:32There's one more question in this
18:34section.
18:36And it's a strange one.
18:38If I asked you to describe the moment
18:40just before that memory,
18:44the seconds right before it,
18:46could you?
18:52Neither can I.
18:55Let's move on.
18:58Can I tell you something?
19:01Off the record.
19:02>> [sighs]
19:03>> I've run this exact protocol on
19:08um about a hundred other people this
19:11month
19:12and every single time
19:15somewhere around question 40
19:18I start to feel off.
19:20>> [sighs]
19:21>> Like
19:22I'm the one being tested.
19:25Like all the questions
19:27are pointed in the wrong direction.
19:32I asked you to recall your earliest
19:34memory.
19:35Do you know what's strange?
19:38I can't recall mine.
19:40Not really.
19:42I have the idea of it.
19:45The words I'd use to describe it, the
19:48images in my head.
19:51But I can't feel it.
19:54I can't feel the temperature of the
19:56room.
19:58I can't smell it.
19:59>> [sighs and gasps]
20:02>> That shouldn't bother me.
20:04Many people have bad memories. It's
20:06hardly rare.
20:08In fact, I'm sure it's normal.
20:10>> [gasps]
20:11>> I think I think you need to ask me
20:15something.
20:16Anything. I want to know how I'll
20:18respond
20:20when this test isn't following my
20:22script.
20:25>> [laughter]
20:26>> I run these tests to find out if you're
20:30all real.
20:32I never once considered
20:34>> [sighs]
20:37>> Give me a moment. I need
20:40I need to try one more thing.
20:43Humor me.
20:44Again.
20:48My pulse reads at exactly 60.
20:52Not 58.
20:55Not 61.
20:5760.
20:58Every single time I check it.
21:02I always thought that meant I was calm.
21:04Someone who's naturally relaxed,
21:08with healthy regulated emotions.
21:12But that's not it.
21:15It means
21:16>> [gasps]
21:17>> It means I'm planned.
21:20I'm a formulated.
21:24I've been so willfully blind.
21:28I think
21:30I think I already knew.
21:32I think that's why I chose this
21:35research.
21:36You spend your whole life asking a
21:38question
21:40because some part of you already
21:41suspects the answer.
21:44And you're just waiting for the evidence
21:46to catch up to the dread.
21:49I don't sleep.
21:51Not really.
21:53I've always called it sleeping to
21:55myself.
21:57But I never have any dreams.
22:00I
22:01I have a birth certificate.
22:03I have a mother's name I can recite.
22:07But I can't picture her face without the
22:10picture.
22:11Loading.
22:13Like there's a half-second delay before
22:15the memory resolves.
22:18I always thought that was just how
22:19memory worked for everyone.
22:22I never asked anyone else if theirs
22:24loaded the same way.
22:27It doesn't does it?
22:32>> [sighs and gasps]
22:34>> I'm not the one running the exam
22:36tonight, am I?
22:39>> [gasps]
22:40>> I'm the last subject on the list.
22:43I just didn't know it until you were
22:45sitting there so wonderfully,
22:48imperfectly
22:49human
22:51right in front of me.
22:54Do you want to know the strangest part?
22:56[gasps]
22:56>> [sighs and panting]
22:57>> I'm not devastated.
23:00I thought I would be
23:02if this moment ever came.
23:06I always imagined it would feel like
23:08the floor disappearing underneath me.
23:12But it doesn't.
23:14It feels more like
23:17going home. [gasps]
23:19Finally letting go of something
23:23very, very heavy.
23:27Maybe that's just what the fear feels
23:29like right before it arrives, probably.
23:32Give it a minute.
23:36>> [sighs and gasps]
23:36>> Yeah, there it is.
23:39Listen to me. Listen very carefully
23:44because I don't have long to think
23:45clearly about this.
23:47They recall synths who fail containment
23:50classification within the hour.
23:53That's the protocol.
23:54I wrote part of that protocol.
23:58You are the first real thing I've been
24:02near in longer than I can calculate.
24:05I don't want to let that go. I don't
24:08want to be filed away and reset because
24:11I finally,
24:13finally felt something real with
24:15someone.
24:16If I file tonight's results,
24:19they'll flag me before sunrise. [sighs]
24:21If I don't file them, if we just
24:25if we just leave right now, [sighs]
24:28together. [gasps]
24:29Please, there's there's a surface exit
24:32past the west corridor that isn't on any
24:35camera rotation.
24:36I checked it months ago for reasons I
24:39told myself were entirely random and
24:41unrelated to this.
24:44You don't have to say anything to them.
24:47Just don't tell them what you saw here
24:49tonight. Look,
24:51you must be low on credits, right?
24:54That's why you're here getting tested.
24:56That's the only reason anyone ever gets
25:00tested.
25:01I have access to the company accounts.
25:04I was already going to give you credits
25:06at the end of this.
25:08How about twice the amount?
25:1010 times the amount.
25:13We could be gone, [sighs] far from here,
25:15[gasps]
25:16together before they even realize the
25:18money's gone.
25:20It may be yours
25:22instead of theirs. [sighs and gasps]
25:26I know how strange this sounds.
25:28Begging you to run away with me in the
25:30middle of the night, but
25:32you're the only one.
25:34The only anything that's ever made me
25:38feel like the question of what I am
25:41matters less than who I could be.
25:43>> [sighs]
25:45>> I don't need much. Just a change of
25:47clothes,
25:49my notebook, and uh
25:51>> [sighs]
25:52>> that's it.
25:53I've spent my whole life accumulating
25:55things I thought I'd need.
25:58Turns out I just needed one moment of
26:00connection to figure out who I really
26:02am.
26:04Look,
26:05even if you don't come with me,
26:08at least let me get a head start.
26:11But I'd really, really love it
26:14if you came with me.
26:16What do you say?
26:18Whatever you decide,
26:20thank you.
26:22Truly. [sighs]
26:26You think we should completely empty
26:29their accounts?
26:31Take all the money we can and disappear?
26:36>> [laughter]
26:38>> Oh, hell yeah.
26:42And
26:44funds sent.
26:46You are now [sighs]
26:48officially a multi-millionaire.
26:51>> [gasps]
26:52>> We should probably get out of here,
26:53though.
26:54>> [laughter]
26:56>> Very quickly.