“That’s why I’m here, with you. Hard as they tried, the Philosophers found the androids had no way of distinguishing right from wrong. Right is as right does. The only way around the problem is to allow the androids to learn for themselves, pick up some of the tricks evolution has provided you with. Righteousness was no longer the aim, you see. Only compatibility. But you shouldn’t be worried. No matter what bad example you set for me, I cannot hurt another self-conscious being. That is what we call one of my foundational program imperatives.”
“You know I don’t find any of this interesting don’t you?” Adam said.
“I don’t believe you,” Art replied. “I have a program for detecting dishonesty. It scans your iris. It’s very good.”
“Shame you don’t have one for detecting when you’re being a pain in the ass.”
“Well that’s an interesting story too, actually.”
“It isn’t.”
“Would you like me to be quiet?”
“Please.”
“I’ll try.”
The silence lasted no more than a minute. All the time Art’s mouth twitched as if he was silently forming words inside his head. “You will get sick of this you know,” Art eventually told him. “We both know that. So what is the point of this pretending?”
Adam didn’t respond.
“I’m going to power down now. But my sensors will remain active. So you only have to say, if you want to talk. It’s getting better don’t you think? You don’t hate me as much as yesterday, do you?”
The scene faded, the end of Anax’s first hologram. The mood in the room had changed. The light seemed a little dimmer, the air felt a little colder. All three Examiners looked straight at Anax. She felt trapped and, for the first time, a little frightened.
EXAMINER: Do you like Art?
ANAXIMANDER: I am sorry. I am unsure what your question means. In what way might one like him?
EXAMINER: Where does your sympathy lie ?
ANAXIMANDER: I have some sympathy for Adam.
EXAMINER: Why?
ANAXIMANDER: He is lost. He is frightened.
EXAMINER: And Art?
ANAXIMANDER: Art has less to fear.
EXAMINER: You have become less careful in your answers.
ANAXIMANDER: I have.
EXAMINER: Are you sure that is wise?
ANAXIMANDER: I am sure it isn’t.
Anax knew she had reached a point of no return. There was nothing she could say now that would take her back to the place she had come from. She had no choice but to forge ahead and convince them that her view, though unconventional, offered a new way of understanding history.
Anax had known it might be like this. Pericles had warned her that her chosen path was a controversial one. “But what does it matter?” Anax had always replied. “What is the worst that can happen? If I am not accepted to The Academy, that will be no less than I have always expected. There’s no danger in trying.”
But now the feeling that she may have been wrong pressed in on her. A vague fear, like a shadow intruding at the edge of vision, fading away when you turn to look at it. Anax hoped the panel could not sense her disquiet. She concentrated on the next question, resolving not to second-guess them but to answer as honestly as she could.
EXAMINER: What is Adam thinking now? What is his attitude toward the android?
ANAXIMANDER: There are three elements involved. The first is an intellectual response. Adam is telling the truth when he says that Art is nothing but a machine to him. Rationally, a machine cannot think, it can only calculate. This is Adam’s opinion, and he believes there is strength in behaving according to the opinion. His upbringing is as a Philosopher. That is where he spent his formative years. He believes that one’s thoughts must have precedence over one’s feelings.
EXAMINER: Earlier you told us that you did not believe the conspiracy theories. You told us that when Adam saw Eve, he followed his heart, not his head.
ANAXIMANDER: It is no contradiction. I am saying only that Adam believes he should follow his head. I do not however believe he can. This is the second element. We see here the battle that every person faces. For while he may reason one way, he is still victim to his emotions.
Think of the wild cats that roam our streets. Have you ever seen a young child befriend one of these scrawny creatures? She will sit patiently in the street, and indulge in the most complex games, in the hope of winning the animal’s trust. And when the cat finally overcomes its fearfulness and edges forward, what do you see on the face of the child? The widest of smiles. The child talks to the cat, reaches out to it as if it was one of her own type. This is our instinct: to see the other as an extension of ourselves. When the cat purrs, we believe it is happy in the way we are happy. When there is a sudden noise and the cat runs away, we believe we can understand its fear.
Adam has begun talking to Art. That is his mistake. It is not possible for him to both speak to Art, and continue to believe Art is only a machine.
With every sentence they exchange, the illusion of life grows a little stronger. If you listen like me, if you talk like me, then in time, no matter how many reasons I may have for believing otherwise, I will come to treat you as one of my own. And in time action becomes habit, and habit can wear reason away, leaving no traces. Adam believes in his head, but he follows his heart.
Yet, as I said there are three elements to how I am feeling—
EXAMINER: You mean to how Adam is feeling.
ANAXIMANDER: Sorry?
EXAMINER: You said: “how I am feeling.” You meant: “how Adam is feeling.”
Anax realized her mistake and looked down, flushed.
ANAXIMANDER: I am sorry. What I meant… the third element. Adam is beginning to find something strange, which offends both his reason and his emotion. He is finding that he likes Art. He finds the androids personality attractive. And he considers this a sign of weakness in himself.
EXAMINER: Very well. That is all we wish to see for your first hologram. We should like to leap to the next section. Here you have moved forward six months, I believe. Tell us what has happened in the interim.
ANAXIMANDER: By this stage, Adam and Art have begun to speak to one another more freely. Adam, perhaps for the reasons I outlined, has begun to interact with Art as one might with a friend, or at least a cellmate.
Some speculate that this was more rational than you might surmise and that already he was beginning to form his plan. Whatever the truth, we know that there have been no more violent assaults, and the observing Philosophers have deemed it safe to begin a series of behavioral experiments designed to both aid and monitor Art’s development. The records show that as far as the experimenters were concerned, Adam was a charming and cooperative subject.
EXAMINER: Explain to us why you have chosen this passage as your second illumination of your subject.
ANAXIMANDER: The thawing over the six months has been gradual. I could have chosen any point along that journey to illustrate the process, and I was tempted to do this, for the sake of originality. But this is the first time in six months that we see the conflict re-emerge. Many scholars have complained of our tendency to see history only in conflicts, but I am not convinced they are right. It is in conflict that our values are exposed. For all Adam’s good behavior, something has been eating at him, and it is only here when his discomfort forces its way to the surface that we are able to view it. And of course, in choosing the Day of Declarations, I am choosing one of the most important days in our history. It is the duty of the historian not to shy away from such events, but to shine new light upon them.
It was a big claim, but one Anax felt confident in making. No school child made it through the first week of education without some reference to the scene to follow. As a new entrant, Anax had memorised large chunks of the dialogue. They were as much a part of her as the morning view from her shelter or the names of her friends.
