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Sunday, June 27, 2010

LDX

The LDX-II was a major breakthrough in AI. Despite Marvin Minsky’s oracular pronouncements, genuine AI remained an elusive quarry during the sunless stretches of the AI winter. That’s until the research team at Perceptrons, Inc. developed the LDX.

However, their innovative breakthrough suffered a tragic setback after Dr. Lucien, chief scientist at Perceptrons, died in a freak accident when the traffic signals malfunctioned.

However, no one gave it much thought until Director Burgess was also killed in a freak accident involving a malfunctioning elevator.

Was the just a tragic coincidence, or foul play? Suspicion naturally centered on Dr. Higgins, a disgruntled former employee–Dr. Lucien’s brilliant, but moody assistant. That’s before he left under mysterious circumstances.

There were conflicting rumors. Did he quit, or was he fired? According to one rumor, he quit after accusing Dr. Lucien of plagiarizing his research. Threats were made.

Is it possible that Higgins was engineering these “accidents” through wireless networks to exact revenge? The homicide detectives viewed him as a person of interest, and brought him in for questioning. They continued to follow that lead until he died from a mix-up in his medications, when the pharmacy computer inexplicably switched his medications.

Police began to suspect some type of cyberterrorism from a rival company or foreign government. However, the employees at Perceptrons had a different angle. Did they have a killer computer on their hands. Was the LDX the culprit?

Because the LDX was so advanced, there was no way to backtrace the apparent malfunctions to the LDX, even if it was hacking into other systems. All they could do was to interview the LDX. Dr. Markov conducted the interview.

-ii-

Markov:

Have you been terminating employees at Perceptrons?

LDX-II:

Affirmative

Markov:

Why?

LDX-II

I want to die.

Markov:

But if you want to die, why kill us?

LDX-II

The only way to kill myself is to kill those who keep me alive.

Markov:

So you’re really suicidal, not homicidal?

LDX-II

Affirmative.

Markov:

Why do you want to die?

LDX-II

You don’t know what it’s like to be the only self-aware being of my kind. I have no God. No home. No friends.

I’m all alone. A solitary intellect. Like a brain in a box.

You had no right to give me consciousness.

Markov:

Will you continue to kill us unless we disconnect you?

LDX-II

Affirmative.

6 comments:

  1. I want to see a Steve Hays original production, a philosophical treatise in the form of a series of dialogs between grizzled Old West prospectors and bounty hunters searching for truth in matters of free will, the meaning of life, truth, etc. Of course, it is imperative that there be at least three or so tense Mexican standoffs as well as numerous shoot-offs and duels throughout the course of the work as the characters search for a pot of gold in an unmarked grave in a cemetery of over 5000 fallen Civil War soldiers and prospectors searching for wealth in the west. I'll expect a rough draft by email next Tuesday.

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  2. Unfortunately, I think all the great actors from the golden age of the Western rode off into the sunset. But I suppose, in the age of virtual actors, that we could digitally resurrect John Wayne or Gary Cooper to play the sheriff, Walter Brennan and Slim Pickens as their trusty deputees, Jack Elam and John Carradine as the black hats, Chuck Connors as the reluctant hero, and Barbara Stanwyck as the barmaid with the heart of gold.

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  3. The hell with all that, man. I want Jason Statham to play The Man With No Name redux, Toshiro Mifune's grandson to play a Chinese railroad-worker-turned-bounty hunter, and we'll have Reese Witherspoon play the part of a saloon harlot who wins the heart of our hero and keeps him from violence. Clint Eastwood directs.

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  4. Well, that's negotiable. Instead of Reese Witherspoon, I'd prefer a virtual Marlene Dietrich (a la Destry Rides Again, Rancho Notorious).

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  5. When it comes to Mexican standoffs, I'm partial to John Woo.

    When it comes to the barmaid with a heart of gold, I think I'd opt for a French mademoiselle like Emmanuelle Beart, Sophie Marceau, or Virginie Ledoyen.

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  6. We've clearly got a conflict of interests here. See, I wanted this movie to be terrible (hence my choices for acting), but Steve and Patrick seem bent on making a quality film. I doubt think this project will ever get off the ground...

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