I Origins

Every living person on this planet has their own unique pair of eyes.

Each their own universe.

My name is Dr. Ian Gray.

I'm a father, a husband...

and I'm a scientist.

When I was a child, I realized that...

the camera was designed exactly like the human eye...

taking in light through a lens, forming it into images.

I began taking as many pictures of eyes as I possibly could.

I'd like to tell you the story of the eyes that changed my world.

Remember these eyes.

Remember all the details in these eyes.

Okay.

It started when I was a 26-year-old Ph.D. student living in New York.

It was Halloween, eight years ago.

You okay?

I'm watching the moon.

Can I take a picture of your eyes?

Why?

It's just something I do.

Okay.

Yeah? I've perfected this.

Hi.

Hi.

Do you know the story of the Phasianidae?

The... No, what's that?

It's a bird...

that experiences all of time in one instant.

And she sings the song of love and anger...

and fear and joy and sadness all at once.

All combined into one magnificent sound.

Where are you from?

Another planet.

What's the bird sound like?

It sounds like this. Lean closer.

- It's more like noise. - Yeah.

And this bird... when she meets the love of her life...

is both happy and sad.

Happy because she sees that for him is the beginning...

and sad because she knows it is already over.

Hey, hey, do you wanna get a drink?

I don't drink.

Like, anything?

You're not gonna regret this in the morning, right?

Hold your memory for a moment

With a blind hand

Write some stories

For tomorrow

Your identity confirmed.

I finished that transcription factor program.

Last night?

No, this morning.

Because, bitch, I don't play.

Got the input genes and then you put your transcription factor...

Wait a minute. You stink of vodka.

- I mean, like, bad. Like it smells bad. - Yeah, I know. I know I reek of vodka.

Stop talking so loud.

Okay, I consolidated all of your data into one database.

You are welcome.

You're amazing. I hate you.

Oh, I love you, that's why I do it.

Oh, hey, you got a new rotating student.

First year.

- Oh, shi... - Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Have fun babysitting, buddy.

You need gum.

You need... to have fun babysitting.

Karen.

Hi, Ian.

Can I...

Follow me.

You're attempting to make colorblind mice see color?

That's the idea.

But after failed experiment 352, we'll see.

Why?

Why what?

Do so many experiments fail?

Why are you interested in making colorblind mice see color?

Why not?

How are you testing that they see color?

As the new rotating lab assistant...

your job will be to do very boring,

very repetitive experiments...

be a glorified note-taker...

and not ask me "why" every five minutes.

Okay? Cool.

Commencing experiment 353...

response to photo pigment protein in Mus musculus.

The control subjects B Beta...

G Gamma, E Euphoria...

P...

Psychopannychia.

- I don't know what that means. - Look it up.

G as in Goodness gracious. H as in Help me, please.

Z as in Zoolander.

Are the mice muted with the photo pigment protein?

When we animate the lines...

colorblind mice stare straight.

Whereas...

fingers crossed...

the muted mice sh...

Track the lines with their eyes.

- Holy shit. - Holy fucking shit.

Is this on the background of PAX6 overexpression?

You're a first year?

I know, it's surprising I can put together a sentence.

Sorry, I asked my last three lab assistants not to come in...

and I'd sign their credits.

Anyway, this is just one step in a very, very long process.

This is a rough estimation...

but let's just say that the human eye has 12 working parts, right?

Simplest eye having one.

So, if we can fill in the gaps, the evolutionary gaps...

using single mutations...

we can map out the most logical progression...

of the most basic eye...

to the most complex, fully formed human eye.

I don't understand, why take the time?

We know that it evolved.

It's an assumption, it's not a fact.

When you're no longer a first year,

you'll see how important facts are.

Right.

Each of these animals has an eye

that's best selected for its environment.

It would be cleaner...

less variables, if you had an origin.

Go on.

You start with one...

to get to 12. But what if you had zero?

A non-seeing organism and built genetically an eye from scratch...

a zero to 12.

It'd be a perfect proof, unassailable.

Non-seeing organisms don't have the PAX6 gene.

How do you know? Has anyone ever checked all of them?

I don't think anyone has ever checked... all of them.

You've thought of this before?

Why did you look surprised?

Because so have you.

Okay.

Who were those girls?

Which girls?

The ones at the Halloween party in the S&M outfits.

S&M outfits?

I met one of them. Don't know her name.

I don't know her face, but she had these most amazing eyes. So specific.

Central heterochromia.

Oh, reminds me. Guess what I did?

What?

I figured out an improved implementation technique...

for Daugman's biometrics algo.

You ever feel like when you met someone,

they fill this hole inside of you...

and that when they're gone

you feel that space painfully vacant?

Are you okay, man?

Yeah, yeah. I'm okay, are you okay?

What did you just say? Did you say...

The way you talked was, like, poetic.

- It was weird. - Shut the fuck up.

It was so weird, dude. I can't believe... Oh, shit.

This guy is painfully vacant.

Ian, look at him. He's so painfully vac...

He's so painfully vacant.

Fuck off.

Can I get a pack of Verdict and a Powerball?

How much is that?

$11. 11.

Lucky elevens.

Thanks.

Karen.

What are you doing?

Five percent of all animals don't have vision...

and there are 8.7 million species...

So I blasted PAX6 at the database, but nothing came up.

So I started sequencing by myself.

How many did you sequence?

Twelve.

You've done 12.

So, how many do you have left?

Like, approximately 426,000.

Are you going to write 426,000 names on the window?

I'm going to find it before I get to the end of the window.

Okay.

What are you doing?

I'm not doing anything.

You know we could be looking forever and find nothing.

Turning over rocks and finding nothing is progress.

Burning papers into ashes

What a season

How they fly high

From the ground, oh

There is yet another fountain

Flowing over

As the night falls

Keep dreaming

Away

If you hold onto that past

Don't you lock yourself inside