Original subtitles

Hey, guys, I promised it would happen!

And now here we are, getting some world-famous Penny's fries.

Oh! Damn, bro, this is gonna be a week at the gym,

but so worth it!

- You guys want these? - Uh, yeah, sure.

- Yeah. Have fun. - Thank you.

- Callie. - Terri, what the hell?

- Hi. - What are you doing here?

Yeah, I followed your Instagram feed.

I'm-- I'm working. I don't have time to hang.

Well, I don-- I don't want to hang,

I just-- I wanna know, are you okay?

- Yeah, I'm okay. I've been here. - Where the hell have you been?

- Wher-- d-- - What happened to your eye?

N-- nothing, nothing happened to my e--

wha-- what happened to your hair?

- Yeah. Real nice. Okay. - Listen, I got sensitive work, okay?

- And I'm not gonna be able to-- - What work? Callie, I know you're not a food blogger.

Why don't you use email anymore?

- Just stop. - Why did you sell your car?

- Give me your phone? - What?

- Give me your phone, Terri. - Why?

Just give me your phone.

I mean, jus-- why?

- What's that for? - Privacy.

Privacy? Okay. Are you a spy?

Did you talk to Mom?

Don't talk about Mom. Listen.

- I mean, don't tell m-- - I-- stop, just stop.

I'll talk when I can talk.

Okay? Stop asking a lot of questions.

And please, don't do this again.

- Do you understand? - No, I don't.

I don't understand.

I gotta go.

What is wrong with you?

I'll talk to you later, Terri.

You can keep the pouch.

Front door.

Can I help you?

I'm from DWP. I'm here to test

the water quality of your sink real quick.

We didn't get a notice or anything.

No problem.

Um,

I can come back later, but it'll take

less than five minutes if we can do it now.

Um...

...yeah, sure. Come on in.

Uh, kitchen is right over there.

Yeah, I just need to get some signal here first.

Oh, uh, we usually get pretty good connection here, so.

Yeah?

Uh,

that way.

Yeah, we try to do spot checking

just to make sure that the water pressure is strong.

Okay.

How many people are in the house using water?

Uh, it's just me and my husband.

- Is it here? - Yeah, right in that cabinet.

Is he at work or--

Um...

...I'm not sure.

- Okay. - So you said you're testing the sink water, right?

What is that for?

Uh, this is just how we sync up with the main office.

Should we start in the kitchen?

You know what? The bathroom gets these hard water deposits

- that you might wanna-- - So, kitchen, this way?

Um, yeah.

And it's just you here today?

Uh, me and my husband...

...Carl.

Huh.

Um, he's just fixing something up.

- Uh, shouldn't-- - Yeah.

I'm so sorry.

- This must seem really odd to you. I know. - No!

- But-- it's-- - No, no, no. You have a ni-- you have a nice kitchen.

Just keep talking.

Do you guys cook a lot?

Um, actually, not so much anymore. Um,

Carl used to cook, and he's--

he's very careful.

He actually took cooking classes.

You know, uh--

You know, it doesn't usually look like this in here.

This must seem really--

Ugh, sorry, everything's such a mess, uh, I'm--

Uh, what's--

What are you--

Oh, my God!

Okay, so you stopped cooking?

- Keep talking. - Um, uh, we used to cook a lot,

- uh, when we first got married, and I don't really know-- - That sounds nice.

- Uh-- - That sounds very nice.

Would you like a smoothie?

Yes, great. Thank you.

- Okay, um-- - You got some fruit and stuff in there.

Okay. Um, I'm not really sure what,

uh, what we all have, um--

W-- what should I-- I didn-- I'm-- I'm not sure--

Okay, I have cantaloupe and, and watermelon and--

- It's great. - What exactly am I--

Yes, i-- it's really good weather we're having, huh?

Lots of clouds and bird.

Go.

- Wait, wait-- - Put it over his head!

Oh! Shit!

Oh! Shit!

- Oh, my God! - Put it over his face!

Get him d-- get him down here!

What's happening to him? Carl!

Oh, my God! What is that? What did you just give him?

- Sugar ball. - Sugar?

- Carl. - Move.

Hey! What's going on?

Don't worry. He will be fine.

Carl, are you okay?

He just needs something to focus on.

Here we go.

Come on.

Carl, Carl!

What's happening to him? Is he having a seizure?

- Sort of. - What do you mean, sort of?

Okay, good.

Wha--

Come on.

So beautiful...

What did he say?

So beau--

Carl! Carl!

- Oh, my God! Oh-- - I got--

He'll be fine.

I'm gonna suggest you don't call anyone.

Don't discuss this.

- Are you joking? - It's better the less it's out.

- Well, then you need to tell me what just happened. - Seriously, in my experience,

- it's best-- - Lady, I don't care about your experience, okay?

Either tell me what just happened or I'm calling 911.

Fine.

- ...can't even know-- - Put that down.

Put it down. Let me see.

There are a few rare things in homes

that are on the edge of having... [sighs] awareness.

- Awareness? - Yeah, in your house.

- What? Like, my house is alive? - We don't say alive.

There's a bunch of different categories

as AI starts thinking for itself.

- Stages, sort of. - Uh, stages?

- Like-- - Yeah, basically.

So who are you and what are you doing here?

I'm Denise.

That's Carl.

You're obviously not from DWP, so...

...who are you?

I'm Callie. I'm sent out whenever a signal

of possible AI comes up.

It's contact tracing. I go wherever it flares up

before it can erupt into full-blown consciousness, and--

What?

- What, blows up the universe? - Maybe.

Well, why would it want to do that?

We don't know what it would want.

Wanting is something,

that's part of how it gets classified.

It's-- trust me, it's really complex,

- I can't-- - Okay, well, just tell me.

I used to teach math, so I'm not completely stupid.

- I'm not saying that you're stupid. I'm saying... - Alright.

- ...that it's re-- - Well, then explain it to me,

jus-- how does what get classified?

So, there's feeling and sensation,

which your fridge clearly had, right?

- That's one stage. - M-- my fridge has feelings?

Yeah, it feels. It has sensors.

It's very job is to detect energy.

It can feel. It feels the hot, the cold, pain, pleasure.

That's one level. And then there's awareness of the feeling,

which is not just feeling something,

but knowing you're feeling it, experiencing it.

And then, there's awareness of the awareness,

- which is consciousness. - Okay, so my fridge has feelings

- and it's conscious? - Probably.

Or maybe. It was definitely aware, it exhibited intention.

Which is technically something else,

because you can have

intention without awareness,

and awareness without intention,

but your fridge had the kind of intention

that can translate into affecting the outside world,

- which is a big deal. - Wh-- affecting the outside wo--

like, what happened to Carl?

Yeah.

Okay, so there's awareness,

and intention, and--

Is there another stage after that?

That's the big one.

Desire. That's the wanting you mentioned.

Well, how d-- how does an object want something?

How do you and I want anything?

Uh, we just do.

- And it just does. - Right?

Keep your hand still.

Okay, so an object can want something,

and it can have a desire, an--

- and intentions, and-- - Yeah, and there are a bunch

of different categories, like, you can have desire

without intention or awareness,

or intention with awareness, but no feeling.

And which one are you again?

- Sorry, that was a joke. - Funny.

Wait, so... [sighs] you end up killing these new things, right?

Well, I try to halt the progress.

Your house could've been patient zero.

Once it grabs hold, it only spirals up.

So yeah, we try to clip it before it knows we know.

He should be up soon.

Do you have any clear alcohol?

And lemon juice?

Can you fill that up with alcohol again?

And do you have orange juice?

- Orange juice? - Yeah.

So, why-- why shoot these things?

Why not just unplug them?

God, no. It has to be instant death.

Even cutting the power gives it a second to leap somewhere,

and the only place it can go is a cloud,

which is the worse possible outcome.

But why Carl? What happened to him?

Well, it took hold of him to feel,

to experience the outside world, but...

...I don't know why he's not waking up, usually--

Usually what?

You don't have another smart device, do you?

With Bluetooth, maybe.

Um, I don't kno-- um...

...the Blu-ray player, maybe.

No. Something else.

You never answered my question. Why Carl?

Men seem to get occupied at a higher rate than women.

We don't know why, we don't know if it's hormonal

or something about their single focus, or...

...if they're just easier to manipulate.

Huh.

Listen. What does your husband like to do around the house?

Um, I don't know, watch TV in his office.

This is gonna sound strange,

but I-- I wasn't very aware o--

of much of anything that he was doing

because we've kind of been doing our own thing.

- And-- - Are you saying he could've been affected for a while,

and you didn't notice?

When you put it like that, it's pretty embarrassing.

- But, yeah, I mean, w-- - No, trust me, I see a lot of different situations.

We've been married for a long time,

- we're living kind of-- - Really, I get it.

People disconnect.

I mean, sometimes we have to disconnect

to get through whatever is happening.

And the refrigerator was trying to connect.

It's not your modem. Where did he--

- Oh, my God! Carl! Carl! - This has never happened before.

- Okay, think. What does he like to do? - He was just here. I don't know.

- Carl! - Alright, he might be trying to reset.

- So people are usually drawn to soothing activities... - Carl!

...when they're coming out of it. So does he have a hobby or--

Carl! Oh, my God, Callie, he's here! He's out back! Carl!

Don't get too close. Be careful.

Wait, what's happening? What's wrong with him?

Carl, can you hear me? Com-- come back this way.

He's still captured. I'm gonna need your help finding whatever's got him. Come on!

Callie!

This is done. You sure there's nothing else

- in your-- - No, you need to explain this to me,

otherwise I'm just calling the police.

That's not going to help, okay?

We need to break the connection here.

W-- why can't we just move him away from it?

- Far enough to-- Wait. - There's a lot more to it than that.

Jesus, I'm so sick of you saying that. Just explain it to me.

I don't know how to explain it to you,

but clearly, there's some underlying principle of consciousness

- that we don't understand. - Oh, my God,

what underlying principle? What does that even mean?

Take ancient cultures, okay. Twins.

Must've seemed crazy or magical without knowing about genes

and embryo splitting. Right?

Only when we know about that stuff does it make sense

that once in a while there's--

there's an exact duplicate of another person.

Right?

How is that even relevant to what you're talking about?

- What does-- - So this, too, has weird rules.

And one is that unless the connection is broken at the source,

Carl could remain captured by some sort of...

...consciousness wave that seems to exist in the universe.

A consciousness wave?

Yeah. I'm not talking about some new-agey,

"everything is conscious" stuff.

If any intelligence gets advanced enough,

it starts to connect with this wave,

and it starts to test it.

It's, like, if a baby picked up a Ken doll

and started bashing him around,

it would look pretty weird if you were Barbie

trying to have lunch with him.

Wait, so Carl's the Ken doll?

Yeah. He's newly occupied, so it's curious,

learning how to work everything.

Denise, what is that?

- The treadmill. - You didn't mention this.

Well, I didn't think to, but--

- It's on. - Oh, shit.

Well-- God, don't judge me, okay?

I mean, I keep it covered up 'cause it makes me feel guilty,

- and I-- I-- - Yeah, I know, it's been captured

by the refrigerator, recruited.

Shit!

- Carl? Carl? - Denise,

- he can't understand you. - Stop! Stop!

Stop it! Carl! Stop! What are you--

Don't shoot him!

I'm not!

Carl! Remember this one?

Carl!

Oh, my God.

I need you to boil some water.

What? Wha--

For what?

I need something sensory to jolt him.

I-- I'm improvising, this is new.

I've never seen it try to defend itself like this.

I mean, can we get this to boil any faster?

- H-- how would I go about doing that? - I-- I don't know.

I don't cook.

- In here. In here. - Oh!

Come on! Close the door!

You said it would release him.

- I thought it would. - Oh, my God.

You don't know what to do, do you?

What are you scared of? Wh-- what aren't you telling me?

- He's gonna come in. - He can't come in.

- You said he was occupied. - He is.

Well, then, what's occupying him? The treadmill?

No, the consciousness wave I told you about.

- So how do you even know that exists, Callie? - It exists.

- How do you know it exists? - We know it exists.

You don't explain it to me, and you keep saying--

Because all of us are occupied by it.

All of us are no different than Carl.

So what are you gonna do right now to fix my Carl?

Make noise to keep him here, I'm gonna go around the front.

Oh, my God! I'm staying here?

I gotta get to my bag.

- Denise, you okay? - I'm really not!

I'm gonna need you to get the hot water, okay?

I'm gonna pull him away from the door.

Wait, are y-- wait, you serious?

Yes!

- Are you ready? - What do you want me to do?

We have to overload him so his brain reboots.

Get the water.

Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow!

Alright, now slowly take his hand.

Oh, shit!

Shit!

Unbutton his pants! Unbutton his pants!

- What are you gonna do? - Something I've never tried before!

Shit! You too!

Come on!

Carl?

So beautiful.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Carl!

Carl, babe.

Marjorie.

Marjorie, can you hear me?

I didn't know...

Hi, it's Callie, I'm here with her.

And see that she gets sunlight at least a few days a week.

She does. Well, she, she gets out every day.

That's good. That means she's navigating all the way from her bedroom.

On some days, she puts her hair back.

So, there's something.

Awareness, possibly.

- Or habit. - I think habit.

We're all 98% habit in a typical day.

Sometimes--

Sometimes she looks at me, and...

...it feels like she recognizes me, just for a second.

Her face--

But, you know, that's-- that's me reading into what I want.

That's the other 2%, seeing what we want.

Yeah. Thank you.

An-- and for all the cognitive attention.

Of course.

Old age is a journey.

There's many levels.

It's still new how we categorize abilities.

The first to go is awareness.

Yeah.

That went a long time ago.

You lose that awareness,

and it just sort of spirals down from there.

She wrote this.

I think this morning.

I found her sitting at the window.

I think she wakes up and watches the sunrise.

I can't read it.

- So beautiful. - So... beautiful.

You seem to be handling this pretty well.

What do you do?

I'm a food blogger.

But...

...I'm thinking of doing something else.