Listening

Tell me, why are you here?

I'm here to become a student.

I need to learn how to meditate,

how to control my thoughts,

and where they happen.

Why do you need to learn this?

I've done something.

Something very bad.

And I need to set it right.

Let me take care of dinner tonight.

I've got an extra sausage.

How could I turn down charm like that?

I'm serious.

I'm tired.

Yeah, but tonight, I mean.

I'll be more tired after work.

Let's go out, then.

You work too much.

We could ask your mom to take care of Lana.

We could go to that Thai place

that you really like.

Fine.

Won't the paper burn when it explodes?

It's not that kind of explosion.

We're going to make a chemical reaction.

What's a chemical reaction?

It's kind of like magic.

- Cool. - Yeah.

There you go, Grams.

Let's roll, gangsta.

What, what!

- Seriously? - Shut up.

Such a dork.

For example, the subject is asked

to think about Marilyn Monroe.

My study suggests not only conscious control

in the hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex...

Hey, did you hear about

the new bioengineering transfer?

My friend's in her class.

He says on a scale of one to ten,

she's a lemniscate.

But also...

Mr. Thorogood,

perhaps you could enlighten us all

with Ryan's gossip

or tell us what else we can conclude

with this study?

We can conclude that

all neurosurgeons are in love with Marilyn Monroe.

A single neuron has not only the ability

to carry complex code and abstract form

but is also able to override sensory input

through cognitive effort.

It suggests thought is a stronger reality

than the world around us.

Unfortunately,

I think you're both correct.

Dude, that's bullcrap.

I'm telling you, man,

brains out-duels brawn every time.

It's not just brawn.

He's the most powerful character in any universe.

He's unbeatable.

Except for kryptonite.

Blanket?

He could only win if he fought dirty.

If Supes took a sucker punch, it'd be over just as easy.

Say, no warning,

they're both just teleported into a cage match.

It doesn't matter.

Batman keeps kryptonite in his utility belt.

Man, oh, man, give me some gloves.

Those Bunsen burners are too hot to handle.

Dude, did you just see that?

See what?

She totally just checked me out.

I'm gonna go talk to her.

Not now. I'm...

Hey. I'm Ryan.

I know. We have chemistry together.

Slow down.

- David Thorogood? - Yeah?

You missed your rent payments for November and January.

I'm here to collect.

No, I-I talked to Stan.

He's... he's our landlord, and he...

He handed the situation over to us.

No, he said...

You owe 5,690.

Late fees included.

Um...

Is that a new computer, David?

Ah, damn it.

David, I'd like you to meet Jordan.

Hi.

Dave's my best friend, business partner,

and the second smartest person I know after yours truly.

- Nice to meet you. - Dude, what are you doing?

Just wait a minute. I know what you're going to say.

I-I'm sorry. We have to talk for just a minute.

- Do you mind waiting outside? - Sorry, babe, one sec.

You told her about our research.

Well, yeah, 'cause she's assigned...

You just met this girl. If it gets out that...

- I know... - You're the one that said

it has to stay secret to remain valuable.

It's fine. I understand I said...

If the school finds out... if they even suspect,

I cannot afford to lose my financial aid.

- You said... - I know what I said.

My own wife doesn't even know what we're doing.

No... no girls, man. That was your rule.

All she's gotta do is make one phone call to administration...

She's not gonna make a phone call.

About some missing equipment,

unauthorized experiments, and that's it.

We're done!

Everything all right with Mel?

You want to tell me what's really going on?

Shut up.

Now will you just listen for a minute, okay?

Jordan might just look like a hot body,

but she's assigned to Professor Hamamoto's experiments

with ATP powered, cell-powering nanotube devices.

Let's give her a peek, see what she says.

We'll make her sign a nondisclosure agreement

and the whole nine yards, okay?

She doesn't know we've borrowed lab equipment,

so you don't have to worry about that.

I've seen this before.

Accuracy takes a nose dive once the word library

goes over 80 or 90 words.

We're averaging almost 90% accuracy.

Most EEG nets track less than 100 neurons.

My compact electrode design lets us track almost 1,000.

How many words does it recognize?

2,486.

Holy shit.

Military applications are obvious, right?

DARPA's been trying to get this to work for years.

Cell phones themselves will become obsolete.

But we are nowhere near there yet.

It's tedious... it's like training

voice-recognition software from scratch

with a stutterer.

Yeah.

And response time is slow.

Exactly. It's...

Your mind can have a dozen thoughts in a millisecond,

but it takes you five seconds to say,

"Hi, sexy"?

- It's not perfect. - It's crap.

You're proud of measuring 1,000 neurons?

You're trying to read the contents of an entire library

by walking through the aisles.

You gotta open the books to know what's really going on inside.

Look, we're not neurosurgeons.

You don't need surgery.

You need nanotubes.

We can create molecular electrodes

by embedding carbon nanotubes into microscopic transistors

that can bond with every neuron in your brain.

So you can decode signal from 1,000 electrodes,

so what?

What are you gonna do

with 100 billion?

I told you.

Next suggestion.

Yes, sir.

Sit.

Good boy, Bubba. Good boy.

Oh, hi.

- Who are you? - I'm Jordan.

Oh, you must be David's wife.

David?

Yeah?

David?

Hey, Mel, you look amazing.

Who is that?

Um...

it's Ryan's friend.

She's helping us out now.

Well, are you ready?

Listen, um, we had a significant breakthrough.

Things are just changing so fast.

We really need this right now, like...

So?

Could we just... could we just do this another night, please?

Yeah, sure.

It wasn't a big deal anyway.

You look really nice.

Did you get a haircut?

Hey, man. How's it going?

I'm just getting something to drink.

Uh, you need a ride home or something?

Nah, it's cool actually.

I think Jordan can take me.

Uh, so how's your grandma doing?

It is what it is.