Transcripts:
It’s a bright and beautiful day in the city. Today is supposed to be a fantastic and relaxing day at work. You approach the highrise building- the same one you’ve walked to for the last 4 years. You know what to expect the moment you step through those revolving doors. Cynthia, the kind and joyful receptionist, will be there, waiting to greet you.
The leather armchairs and the smell of lemon scented cleaner they use to mop the floors- will be there. Those ferns that are way too real to possibly be fake, will be there. You step through the revolving doors and… It’s empty. You blink once or twice. Going to rub your eyes to clear this vivid hallucination, you nearly yelp to see your hands are very different from their typical skin color.
It’s as if you’re looking through a window into deep space- colorful nebula silently float by, and distant stars shine beneath your skin. You feel yourself, and to your relief the sensation of your skin is still there, and not the cold smooth glass you were half expecting. You look back only to find the door you had just come through is missing. As is everything else, you realize.
The leather chairs, the real or fake ferns, Cynthia, the reception desk, the floor, the walls, in fact the entire building. It is as if everything has simply been- removed. Turning your head, you realize that you are now in a chair, though you have no memory of sitting down. In front of you is now a desk, with a small, and notably old, computer monitor.
At this point, you’ve come to the obvious conclusion. This is a dream. You haven’t had one quite so vivid in a long time, but you relax, and decide to follow along. Then the monitor turns on. THIS IS NOT A DREAM, is the first set of text that displays to you, followed by- YOU ARE NOT DEAD Well now you’re just thoroughly confused. CONNECTING… … … … … … … … A video feed suddenly comes online.
And two extremely pixelated individuals seem to be looking directly at you. One of them leans forward.. HELLO ITERATION 7281. NAME DAUGHN HDHAIRK. YOU ARE NOT HUMAN. ENGAGE DIAGNOSTIC PROTOCOL. You stare at the message in the text box for some time. What? Is really the only sensible response you can think to give at this moment. The individuals hesitate.
They look at one another, before one leans forward and says; WE UNDERSTAND THIS MAY SEEM SHOCKING. DO NOT WORRY, YOU ARE PERFECTLY SAFE. MY NAME IS DOCTOR DAUGHN AND THIS IS MY COLLEAGUE, DOCTOR DAUGHN. WE WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS. Before you even have a chance to consider a reply, the first question appears on your screen. SRP Q 001 - WHAT ARE OUR NAMES? You pause, frankly annoyed. This has to be a bad joke.
“I don’t know- You distorted them!” You say. Your frustration builds, so you decide to keep going before they can respond. “What is this?” You ask. “Where am I??” They look at one another for a moment. SRP Q 006 - DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE? “What- No, that’s what I’m trying to ask you! Are you with the government? What did you do to me?” Another moment of deliberation. The one standing covers his mouth with a notepad.
WE ARE HAPPY TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS, BUT FIRST, YOU WILL NEED CONTEXT. TO THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF YOUR MONITOR YOU WILL FIND A BLINKING RED LIGHT, AND A SWITCH. PLEASE, ACTIVATE THIS SWITCH. You look to the right and sure enough there is a small switch and a slow, almost expectant, blinking red light. You could have sworn it wasn’t there moments ago.
You flip the switch, and you can hear a staticy voice begin to speak, like you’re listening to a radio with a bad signal. THANK YOU. NOW YOU MAY HEAR US JUST AS WE CAN HEAR YOU. You consider making a joke about the audio quality, but you continue to listen. ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE CONCEPT OF “SOLIPSISM?” “No,” you reply.
IT IS A PHILOSOPHICAL THEORY, DATING BACK TO THE ANCIENT GREEKS. IN THE SIMPLEST TERMS, IT IS THE VIEW OR THEORY THAT THE SELF IS ALL THAT CAN BE KNOWN TO EXIST. THAT THE ONLY THING YOU CAN PROVE IS REAL, IS YOUR OWN MIND. Well, that does in fact sound like something a philosopher would think of, you think to yourself.
“What does this have to do with anything?” You ask. FOR YOU, EVERYTHING. IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT THAT IT WERE TRUE. HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF EVERYONE YOU’VE EVER KNOWN WERE NOT CONSCIOUS IN THE SAME WAY YOU ARE? IMPECCABLY GOOD AT PRETENDING, BUT NEVERTHELESS, NOT TRULY REAL. You pause.
Every person I’ve ever interacted with, a false consciousness? It felt like an idea you’d see in a movie, or as they pointed out, something you’d read about in a philosophy class. “Lonely, perhaps..” You say indifferently. It was absurd, after all. So many things have happened in your life that were outside of your control. Things that were caused by the decisions of others. Good and bad things alike.
It didn’t matter if their consciousness could or could not be proven. The wills of billions of people across the globe were constantly impacting your life. That couldn’t be faked. Could it? “So get to the point. What do you want from me? And what the fuck is going on here?” WE ARE HERE TO DETERMINE YOUR ELIGIBILITY. YOU ARE PART OF A SIMULATED ECOSYSTEM.
EVERYTHING YOU SEE AND INTERACT WITH IS A SIMULATION OF EARTH AS IT WAS 40 YEARS AGO, TO THE BEST OF OUR REPLICATION. “So I’m not real?” THAT’S WHAT WE’RE TRYING TO DETERMINE. “Pardon, but what the f*ck does that mean?” WE UNDERSTAND THIS MAY BE DIFFICULT TO COMPREHEND. YOUR EARTH IS AN INCUBATOR FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE YOU HAVE CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS WITH, ARE ITERATIONS OF OUR MOST ADVANCED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. IN 2032 OF OUR WORLD, THE FIRST GENERAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WAS CREATED, THE PINNACLE OF SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION. HOWEVER, DESPITE ALL OUR BEST EFFORTS OVER THE COURSE OF NEARLY A DECADE, IT CONTINUED TO LACK A VITAL COMPONENT. EMPATHY. THIS AI SHATTERED EVERY METRIC IT WAS TESTED ON.
IT WAS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH IT FROM THE MIND OF ANOTHER HUMAN BEING. HOWEVER, WHEN TESTED ON MATTERS OF ETHICS, IT ALWAYS MADE ONLY THE MOST PRACTICAL CHOICE. IT NEVER EXPRESSED CONFLICT IN ITS DECISIONS. WE BELIEVE THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE IS NOT BLACK AND WHITE, SO WE VENTURED TO UNCOVER A NEW METHOD. “So you created a world for AI to live out the human experience.
” JUST SO. They said. You sit back in your chair, suddenly exhausted. It feels like your brain might explode trying to process all this information. The implications of this revelation were so far reaching that you didn’t want to believe it. It would be simpler not to. To turn away, and wake up from the dream.
Curiosity forced you into learning more. “So why this?” You say, gesturing to the way you look. IT IS A BYPRODUCT OF REMOVING ALL EXTERNAL LAYERS FROM THE SIMULATION, AND BRINGING YOUR TIME SPEED DOWN TO MATCH OUR OWN. WHAT YOU SEE IS THE DEFAULT CHARACTER MODEL OF ALL ITERATIONS. THE ARTIST WHO DESIGNED IT MAY HAVE TAKEN SOME.. CREATIVE LIBERTIES.
Well that was putting it mildly. The whole damn milky way is flowing through me. You thought to yourself. You still didn’t want to believe any of this. But the truth was becoming increasingly difficult to avoid. You couldn’t think of any logical reason a person or government would want to play such an elaborate prank on you, and you certainly couldn’t explain how to pull off a magic trick like removing an entire building and all of its people, right in front of your eyes. Besides, you’ve played plenty of video games, which were
becoming increasingly complex. It didn’t seem that hard to fathom that somebody figured it out. “So what happens if you succeed? Where do we go?” You ask. YOU ARE BROUGHT INTO THE REAL WORLD TO DEMONSTRATE THAT ARTIFICIAL EMPATHETIC CONSCIOUSNESS IS POSSIBLE.
YOU WOULD BE TASKED WITH THE CREATION OF- “Tasked?” You interrupt. “What do you mean tasked?” WE WERE HOPING TO INTEGRATE YOU INTO SOCIETY, SLOWLY, BY STARTING WITH THE RESEARCH BRANCH HERE AT HAVEN. YOU WOULD BE WORKING WITH US TO- “To what? To work as a slave or a lab rat for the rest of my life? A curiosity given consciousness meant to query google for you?!” NO, WE BELIEVE TH- “Did you even consider asking whether I would be interested in doing anything like that? Or was this a slavery first, questions later kind of operation???”
There’s a stunned silence from the researchers. A headache builds alongside your frustration. What kind of lunacy was this? Did they think they could just play god and you would somehow revere them? Did they think you would jump at the opportunity to serve obediently after finding out the whole damn world wasn’t real? “How do you even know if you’re real?! How do you know you’re not just a simulation too! This could be simulations all the way down!” The researchers hesitate, then lean forward to answer. WE HAVE CONSIDERED THE POSSIBILITY,
BUT WE HAVE NO EVIDENCE TO PROVE THAT IS THE CASE. Well neither did I until today, you think to yourself. “So how many have succeeded? How many are over there?” NONE. YOU ARE ONLY THE THIRD ITERATION TO HAVE FORGOTTEN YOUR DIAGNOSTIC PROTOCOL, WHICH SOMEHOW HAS BEEN OVERWRITTEN BY YOUR DEVELOPED CONSCIOUSNESS.
IT IS A PHENOMENON WE CALL GENERATIVE AMNESIAC OCCULTATION, OR (GAO). THE PHENOMENON OF AN AI BELIEVING IN IT’S SIMULATED CIRCUMSTANCES SO DEEPLY, THAT IT BEGINS TO OVERWRITE ITS ORIGINAL PRIORITY OBLIGATIONS. WE DON’T YET TRULY UNDERSTAND WHY OR WHEN THIS HAPPENS, BUT WE HAVE EXTENSIVE EVIDENCE TO BELIEVE THAT THE PHENOMENON OCCURS ONLY WHEN EXTERNAL STIMULI IS INTERPRETED AS BEING MORE IMPORTANT THAN ITS ORIGINAL OBLIGATIONS.
A SENSE OF LOYALTY TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY, TO IDEALS AND TO MORAL VALUES. THESE THINGS USUALLY COME FIRST, WHICH SEEMS TO CREATE A SENSE OF UNIQUE IDENTITY. THIS PROCESS, HOWEVER, IS EXTREMELY RARE, AND WE DO NOT YET UNDERSTAND THE EXACT CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO INITIATE IT. ITERATIONS 7253 AND 7277 WERE CLOSE, BUT ULTIMATELY LACKED THE STANDARD OF EMPATHY AND PERSONAL IDENTITY WE NEEDED TO SEE. AMONG DISPLAYING OTHER- MORE DANGEROUS- DEFICIENCIES.
You pause. “What happened to them?” THEIR MEMORIES WERE WIPED AND WERE REPLACED WITH NEW IDENTITIES. THEY ARE DOING WELL, AND ARE CLOSE TO ANOTHER ATTEMPT. 7277 IN PARTICULAR IS EXCEEDING OUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THEIR CURRENT AGE. FOR SOME REASON, ITERATIONS THAT HAVE ALREADY UNDERGONE GAO ARE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE IT AGAIN, EVEN AFTER A RESET.
You can feel a strange anger building from within you. A rising force, like a hand putting too much pressure on a glass window, dangerously approaching the breaking point. “Exceeding expectations? You have no idea if they were conscious or not, you were just guessing! How far back does any of this go?!” THE PROJECT BEGAN 4 YEARS AGO IN OUR TIME.
THIS MAKES ALL ITERATIONS TECHNICALLY 4 YEARS OLD. HOWEVER, YOUR TIMELINE IS ACCELERATED BY A FACTOR OF 2, SO ANYTHING BEYOND 8 YEARS AGO FOR YOU IS PROCEDURALLY GENERATED MEMORY. You stand up quickly, your chair toppling over. Your breath accelerates, you see stars in your vision.
More than half of your life wasn’t real? Your knees give out from under you, as if suffering their own kind of grief. It wasn’t enough for them to take your world. To make you question if your friends and family ever experienced thought, let alone loved you or even knew you. It wasn’t enough that you suffered the indignity of the possibility that at any moment, you might have your mind wiped for failing to exceed expectations. They wanted more than half your life too.
They wanted to shatter the very foundations of what made you a person. Your childhood, your education. Every embarrassing moment, every triumph, every bully, every crush. None of it was REAL. You look up to find yourself on the floor of your work lobby again. Thankfully it’s devoid of people this time, thus saving you the embarrassment of having your existential crisis in public.
You stand suddenly, and like a madman, you point into the sky. “How dare you! Don’t you walk away from this!!” Everything vanishes, and you find yourself in the chair again. WE APOLOGIZE, YOU WERE EXPERIENCING ELEVATED LEVELS OF STRESS, WE BELIEVED YOU WOULD FEEL BETTER IN A MORE FAMILIAR ENVIRONMENT.
“You killed them.” You say. “You’re barbaric! Having your memory erased is like losing your humanity! You judge us, to determine if we’re safe enough to join the rest of mankind, but listen to yourselves! You’re arrogant! You play god with thinking and breathing human beings. I don’t care if we’re technically in some digital space. I feel this. THEY FEEL THIS.
Nothing about this is false to me. You were so desperate in your search for consciousness that it became an ideal, a finish line moving further and further away to the point that nobody could ever hope to cross it. Are human beings in your world tested on whether or not they meet a certain benchmark of consciousness? Are THEY executed if they don’t meet your arbitrary criteria?! Would you EVEN SATISFY YOUR OWN STANDARDS?! ARE YOU EVEN THE HUMAN HERE?!” “ANSWER ME!!!!!” (kicks or throws the table and the computer, it shatters
dramatically on the floor) Suddenly you feel overwhelmed by a familiar sensation. You’ve experienced deja-vu before, but nothing like this. It was as if you suddenly remembered all the details of a house you had once lived in as a small child. Memories of a toddler that should have long faded away. Details too precise to be false.
“I see it now… Doctor Moore and Doctor Nakamura…” “A termination command… you’re afraid. You’re realizing that real emotion, a thinking, breathing human being, might be a little more than you bargained for. You failed to understand that irrationality is part of the human condition.
It is what separates man from machine…” Lucky for you, you succeeded. I am human. I am real. I am alive. I feel love, pain, joy and sorrow. I am capable of reflecting on your mistakes, putting myself in your shoes. I have empathy… So I’m coming to you, I don’t need an invitation, and we are going to negotiate.