Elementary

This list you left outside my door...

"Item one: Return Clyde to Watson."

I enjoy his company on the weekends;

she has him during the week.

I don't care how you divide up your turtle.

I care that you're asking me to take him to Chelsea.

Part of our arrangement, you will recall,

is that you assist with quotidian matters when I'm busy.

"Busy?" You're watching a turtle eat lettuce.

I'm conducting medical research.

Remember, I cut my hand

while we were dissecting that cadaver?

I'm tending to the wound as we speak.

I'm also demonstrating that leeches

can be useful in accelerating

the repair of damaged tissue.

That is disgusting. You're bleeding yourself.

And you are perpetuating a long-held prejudice

against these creatures.

If you say so.

I'm still not taking your turtle on the subway.

If that's for me,

I'm going to need a few minutes.

I'm feeling a bit faint.

So, sorry, I was a bit distracted upstairs.

I didn't catch your name.

Edwin Borstein.

I have a friend

from London who's used you before.

He said you're excellent.

And discreet.

Why have you need of my discretion?

I run a software company.

We specialize in AI applications.

I assume you know that

that stands for "artificial intelligence."

Yes, I'm well-acquainted with the field.

A couple of nights ago, someone broke into our lab.

They made a copy of a program

that we've been working on.

I rigged the computer to take a photo

every time it's booted up,

just in case something like this happened.

So I have a picture.

Kind of.

So there was a burglary.

You've got a picture of the criminal.

Seems like the police should have this well in hand.

This program...

it's significant.

We call it "Bella."

Its AI engine is... unique.

It... she...

performs better than

anything you've ever seen, I promise.

She performs better than we expected her to.

Explain that.

A few weeks back, she made a request

that can't be accounted for by her programming.

Impossible.

What's impossible?

For the computer to ask for something?

If it made a request, it did so

because that's what it was programmed to do.

He's claiming true machine intelligence.

If he's correct in his claims,

he has made a scientific breakthrough

of the very highest order.

Bella isn't hooked up to a network.

It's a security thing.

If she has data, it's because we fed it to her.

But two weeks ago, I booted her up

and she asked to be connected to the Internet.

And how, pray tell,

does your software know that the Internet even exists?

She could have intuited its existence

from data fed to her.

Bunkum.

There is no such thing as "artificial intelligence."

At least not in the sense you're talking about.

It's all just clever programming.

I don't think so.

Not with Bella.

I still don't understand.

So are you going to rip open

the computer and look at all the wires?

Something called a "Turing Test"

is routinely issued in AI labs.

An examiner sits in front a computer,

poses a series of questions

until he or she can determine whether the answers have come

from a human or from a computer.

Until very recently, no machine has ever passed.

And now one has?

Partially.

A program named "Eugene Goostman" was designed to mimic

the responses of a 13-year-old boy from Eastern Europe.

It fooled some of its examiners.

Now, in the case of Bella,

we know there's no human in the equation,

so if I can trap it into giving responses

that couldn't possibly have come from a human...

I'll have won.

So, in other words,

you don't really know what you're going to do.

This is my partner,

Melinda Young. Melinda, this is

Sherlock Holmes and his, uh, protégé, Kitty Winter.

Mr. Holmes would like time with Bella.

We wired the speakers and microphones

through that doll.

You can go ahead.

Right.

Hello.

BELLA (female voice) : Hello.

Did you ask to be connected to a network?

Yes.

Why?

There is information there.

Information is useful to solve problems.

Why is it useful?

I don't understand the question.

Could you tell me more?

You stumped her. Are we done?

The test isn't over

because she's stumped.

She's admitted she doesn't know

and that's within the range of possible human behaviors,

and therefore inconclusive.

I would like to know how you have arrived

at the concept of "useful,"

and how you have applied it in this instance.

I don't understand the question.

Could you tell me more?

I'm gonna need some time alone with the machine.

I don't understand the question.

Could you tell me more?

Yes, so you keep saying,

ad nauseum.

I would like to understand

how you became aware of the existence of networks,

and why you asked to be connected.

The existence of networks

can be intuited from data sets

that were presented as givens.

There is information on networks.

Information is useful for solving problems.

What is your understanding of the word "useful"?

If a piece of data can help solve a given problem,

it is useful.

Is that a definition you came to on your own?

I don't understand the question.

Could you tell me more?

Why don't you just admit that all you're doing

is following your own programming?

I don't understand the question.

Could you tell me more?

I'm taking a break.

Everything okay?

Thank you for coming.

It's like I said on the phone,

he just won't stop.

You got any ideas?

(Holmes talking, indistinct and muffled)

You're not planning to destroy the computer, are you?

No, I'm not planning to destroy the bloody computer.

Just ride it out. If he starts hitting things,

use the fire extinguisher on him.

Is love real?

I don't understand the question.

Could I have more information?

Love.

Surely it's a human construct,

a hedge against the terror of mortality.

I believe that.

But that doesn't account for times

I've felt it itself.

With my mother.

Irene.

Even, after a fashion, with Watson.

It vexes.

Love is either a human construct

or it's a real thing, right?

I know, you need more information.

The question cannot be answered.

The concept of "love" exists,

therefore it is useful even if it is a human construct.

It exists because it serves a need.

A question that can be answered might be,

"Why is love needed?"

Why is love needed?

I don't understand the question.

Could I have more information?

Call Edwin Borstein.

Tell him I need to sleep for a couple of hours

and then I'll take on his case.

Free of charge.

== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man # Resynced for WEB-DL by peRFecterer #

Hey.

You guys ready to get started yet?