Original subtitles

[Ryan] The Data Stream, now simply known as The Stream,

was developed 50 years ago

so that the Earth's population could have immediate access

to the newly built World Information Network.

Data relays, known as Eddies,

transmit information directly to an individual's cranial implant.

However the success rate achieved in practice

was less than 100%.

Certain configurations of the cerebral cortex

were found to consistently block data transfer

to and from the brain.

For the few individuals who possess neural defects,

access to The Stream is effectively impossible.

Impossible for defects.

[Mark] Ryan!

Hey, Mark, what's up?

An alarm went off because someone's screwing around

with something they shouldn't be.

Yeah, I'm sorry. Um...

I just thought that if I took an Eddy apart, I might be able to figure out why--

Yours isn't a hardware problem.

It's a wetware problem, Ryan.

It's you that's defective.

I know.

I'll put it back together.

Don't bother.

The Stream's already dispatched an authorized technician.

Don't make me have to do this again, Ryan, okay?

Now, come on, you got some books to take care of.

Right.

The contents have all been put on Stream.

I don't care what you do with these books.

Just get 'em out of here. We need the space.

I know, I...

Just...

Hi, Cheryl.

Hi, Ryan.

-Standing in your Stream? -[both chuckle]

Ryan, that's impossible.

-The Stream is-- -Digital, not analog, I know.

I was just making a little joke.

[terminal beeping]

What are you doing?

Uh, research for the hospital.

Hmm.

It's kind of complex.

Yeah... Well, that's great, that's great.

[terminal beeping]

Have you...

Um, Ulysses.

Have you read this?

Mmm, no. Give me a second.

Okay.

[terminal beeping]

[Eddy trilling]

-Does go on a bit. -[both chuckle]

There. Um...

Was there something you didn't understand?

No, I...

I just thought it was a good story.

Yeah.

Bye.

Bye, Ryan.

Listen, Stanley.

I know Ryan

is practically like a son to you,

but he's got to learn to accept his limitations.

He's entitled to pursue his potential.

[Mark] Potential? Potential for what? Reading books?

I mean, if his aspirations were more realistic,

it might be possible to educate him,

I dunno, maybe become a janitor.

If that's all you think he's capable of,

then maybe you're the one who needs to be educated.

The Stream gives us instantaneous access

to virtually every fact and idea ever recorded.

Ryan simply wants something

we all take for granted,

to know.

He wants to know.

And you could be more considerate.

You know, there was a time when reading was a sign of intelligence.

-Oh, yeah? -Yeah.

Thank God those days are gone.

[Control Voice] There is nothing wrong with your television.

Do not attempt to adjust the picture.

We are now controlling the transmission.

We control the horizontal and the vertical.

We can deluge you with a thousand channels

or expand one single image to crystal clarity

and beyond.

We can shape your vision

to anything our imagination can conceive.

For the next hour,

we will control all that you see and hear.

You are about to experience the awe and mystery

which reaches from the deepest inner mind

to The Outer Limits.

We quantify our world in order to learn.

We break it down into facts, numbers, information.

But how far dare we go before we destroy its mystery?

"Neuro-electrical connections can be established

using dendritic transistor array."

Interesting stuff.

Yeah, go on.

-[terminal beeping] -Let's see. Where was I?

"To interface directly with the main synaptic pathways,

provided the charge-transfer incompatibilities

are compensated for."

Word for word.

It's, uh... What is that like?

To read without reading.

I don't know. It's essentially automatic.

Never really gave it much thought.

Well, I have.

[sighing]

We scan the page.

Uh, letters go upstream for character recognition,

come back down translated as data

which can then be stored as memory.

Just like that, huh?

I think it'd be more interesting

to hear you describe what it's like to actually read letters,

How you convert them into words

and sounds,

memorize them one by one.

Stanley says that you can even do arithmetic in your head.

I wouldn't be too impressed.

I don't have a choice.

Well, I wouldn't mind learning myself one day.

That's like telling a cripple you'd like to learn

how to use his crutches.

[stutters] I'm sorry, Ryan.

I didn't, um...

[sighing]

Sorry.

Wait.

You have a second?

I, uh... I'm worried about Stanley.

I think he's sick.

Sure, come on.

I don't know, it's just that lately Stanley's been

wasting a lot of time worrying about trivial things.

Insignificant details.

The other day he was over with my books,

and he wasn't reading them, he was just looking at them.

Looking at the colors, feeling the textures.

Well, curiosity is a primal biological drive.

It's even built into The Stream.

It's not a disease.

We only got one order.

What do you have?

You want me to take your order?

I'm sorry, Ryan.

I locked my order on the way over, just force of habit.

Oh, you need to hear the menu then?

Right.

Our appetizers today are clam chowder,

chicken soup, cobb salad.

Uh, cobb salad... Please.

You know, Ryan, we've known each other almost our whole lives,

and you've never told me how--

How I became disabled?

Well, it's in The Stream.

Well, I'd rather hear it from you.

Is it sort of a professional curiosity?

Well, I am a neuro-psychologist.

The truth is I've never actually seen anybody with your condition before.

Um... I hope you're not offended.

Thank you.

When I was five, I was in a car accident.

I received extensive neurological damage.

The doctors kept me alive, but, uh...

I'm sorry.

Your parents?

They died instantly.

Stanley took me in, taught me how to make do.

Stanley isn't sick, Ryan.

He just wants to be involved with your life, your books.

He can't read them, so he does what he can.

I think he just wants you to know that he feels

what you're doing is important.

Thanks.

Stanley, I'm home!

[door closing]

Hey, Stanley.

I'm working.

Sorry.

Did you know there's a predominance

of the number seven in Social Security numbers

over the past 61 years?

Uh, no, I didn't.

Stanley...

Are you ashamed of me?

Ryan, how could you ask that?

How old is Mark?

[terminal beeping]

He was 15 years old

on May 17th, 9:12 p.m. local time. Why?

He already knows more than I ever will.

And he'll always gonna be an idiot.

I now wish you shouldn't listen to him.

I just...

I've spent my whole life plodding through page by page,

trying to learn, trying to shove every bit of information I can

in this useless brain of mine,

and it doesn't matter how hard I work.

There's nothing I can know that Mark or anybody else can't just download in a second.

It is well to remember from time to time that

nothing that is worth learning can be taught.

I have to read it to know.

-I'm sorry. -No, you're right.

You don't know the things that I know.

For one,

you don't know how special you are.

And you don't know how strong your weakness has made you.

And you're wrong when you think I don't understand your frustration.

Have you ever watched someone you love trying to do something

you know there's nothing you can do to help them?

When you were young,

I couldn't help you learn the one thing you needed to know most of all.

I could not help you learn to read.

But you didn't need me to, now, did you?

"Nothing worth learning can ever be taught." Oscar Wilde.

Thank you.

[terminal beeping]

It doesn't make sense.

The Social Security numbers should have a random distribution.

Are you feeling okay, Stanley?

Oh, I'm fine.

But it is interesting that the digit seven would predominate.

[terminal beeping]

[Stanley] 124,627!

Stanley, what's the matter?

-Stanley? -Ryan, I have

124,627 hairs.

I counted! I counted, Ryan!

I wanted to know!

And I needed to know!

So I counted, Ryan!

I have 124,627 hairs

-on my head, I know! -[rapid erratic beeping]

How many hairs on my arm?

How many hairs on my arm, Ryan?

I need to know.

I-I need... I need to know.

-I need to know. -Help, please!

Stanley, call for help.

Call The Stream! Help!

-Stanley! Stanley! -[grunting]

Call The Stream, Stanley! Come on!

Help us!

Help us!

Hang on, Stanley, hang on. It's going to be okay.

Help us!

[Stream terminal beeping rapidly]

What is...?

What is-- What is wrong with him?

It's viral.

-An infection? -No, it's a computer virus.

It infected his neural interface.

He was accessing and downloading information

faster than his brain could process it.

There's nothing I can do for him.

That's not true, Ryan.

You cracked the Eddy and alerted The Stream.

You drew help when you needed to.

It was very clever.

It wasn't clever. I just reacted.

Ryan, we have some of the best minds in the world on Stream

working on the problem.

We'll find a cure, I promise.

I know.

[clears throat]

Um, have the, uh, doctors made any progress?

They're already in level-three testing for the anti-virus.

Is there anything I can do?

Just don't bother them, Ryan, okay?

All right.

Excuse me.

I don't mean to interrupt you,

but could you tell me what's happening?

Stanley is m-my guardian.

I see.

Dr. Annaud, would you give this young man a status update?

Doctor?

I've run 147 cross-checks

with the anti-virus to confirm him in safety.

Safety protocol requires only 100.

-Don't you think that's a bit over cautious? -No, I don't think so.

I've streamed with Bonn and Melbourne.

They believe they have an effective anti-virus with this strain,

but aren't ready to commit to a clinical course.

They are 16,219 kilometers apart.

Have them send us a program now.

We can run a phase four diagnostic with San Francisco

and have a definitive answer within the hour.

[sighs]

Just leave it to us.

Of course. What else can I do?

[nurse] BP, 110 over 60. Pulse, 72.

Automatic stream functions normal.

[Dr. Kevington] Cortical stabilizer, please.

[nurse] Yes, Doctor. AV Compilation at 80%.

[Dr. Kevington] Bring AV Downloader online.

[Dr. Annaud] Downloader online.

[nurse] Pressure 100 over 50.

Pulse, 61 and steady.

He's out, Doctor.

Doctor?

[Dr. Annaud] Levels are good.

He's stable.

[beeping]

I'm taking him off stream.

Nurse.

Cortical interface is offline.

-Vitals? -[nurse] Holding steady, Doctor.

[Dr. Annaud] Diagnostic?

Cortical functions are nominal.

Send me his factors, please.

Thank you. I'm going in.

Administer anti-virus.

Administer anti-virus.

Dr. Annaud, are you with us?

Beginning download.

AV download at 10%,

20%, 30%,

40%, 50%...

They have to manually download

-the anti-viral instructions directly into his interface. -Oh.

It'll only take a couple of minutes.

Okay.

-Hey, everything's going to be all right. -Right.

[Dr. Kevington] Download at 75%.

It's looking good.

[rapid beeping]

Hold it. I'm reading synaptic activity in the interface.

-Annaud, do you see it? -Yes.

But there's no way to gauge how much pressure's

actually being applied to the nail.

What?

Doctor, the patient's back on stream.

That's impossible.

What... What's going on?

I don't know.

[Dr. Kevington] Get him stable!

-[nurse] I can't, Doctor! -Parameters...

He's streaming! Dr. Annaud, override it.

[Dr. Annaud speaks indistinctly]

Activate all synaptic decapitation.

[Dr. Kevington] 10 cc's, stat!

Annaud, stop the download!

Turn him around now! Move it! Move it! Come on!

Stop the download! Stop the download!

[speaking indistinctly]

Approaching the cuticle to achieve breakage.

-[Stanley rambling] -[Dr. Kevington] Get her out of here!

Turn it! I need this man submitted now!

Let's go! Let's go!

He's not responding!

He's being bombarded with data from The Stream.

[Dr. Kevington] Uplink and down!

His neural bus has locked open!

[Dr. Kevington] I can't close it!

-Ryan. -Stanley!

Ryan!

-[Cheryl] There's nothing you can do. -No, no, he needs me!

-Ryan! There's noth-- -He needs me.

Ryan!

It's a cerebral hemorrhage. His brain can't handle the data rate.

I'm here, Stanley.

-I'm sorry, you can't stay. -I'm not moving.

-Ryan. -I'm right here, buddy.

Ryan, that... Mind... There's chaos!

I don't understand you.

[Dr. Kevington] He's going into synaptic shock.

Ryan...

You're different.

I know. I am. I'm so sorry, Stanley.

No, Ryan, you don't have what we have,

so you don't see what we see.

You're outside.

Outside, Ryan.

Please don't leave me, Stanley.

You're the only one.

I love you, Ryan.

[nurse] 95%.

I love you, Stanley.

Stanley!

Don't leave me, Stanley.

Don't leave me!

Stanley!

[terminal beeping]

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I couldn't hear what you wanted me to be.

I'm sorry for who I am.

I'm sorry I couldn't help you.

[sighs] I'm so sorry.

You shouldn't be.

Everything that we tried to do to stop it was useless.

It's not your fault, Ryan.

If you could have got to the virus a little faster...

Stanley was a good man.

I'm sure his last thoughts were of how I let him down.

No, his last words

were that he loved you.

Come on.

The transcript of Stanley's last moments

was put on stream during the operation.

We were hoping that someone might be able to use it

to find a way to disable the virus.

-And? -And it could take a while.

But for you, using The Stream?

Well, the sheer amount of information

that was going through Stanley's mind near the end was astonishing.

Complete analysis of the data could take weeks.

But the strange thing was the content.

Near the end, Stanley had calculated 197 different shades of red in the OR.

Why? He always hated red.

Apparently that's what this virus does.

It makes you curious but to an incredible extreme.

Did you know that Dr. Annaud was infected by it as well?

-[scoffs] No. -She bit her fingernails to the quick

trying to test how much pressure was necessary to break them,

downloading and uploading

millions of bits of useless data.

She reached her limit this morning.

She died?

The virus is spreading, Ryan.

The Stream is flooding.

On three!

[all] One, two, three!

[girl] Blow them all out, or you don't get your wish.

Well done! What did you wish for?

A present.

A present?

[laughs]

[boy] That's not a puppy. What is it?

Come on, come on!

-Today, Ryan. -[boy 2] That's stupid.

What is it?

It's like The Stream, but it's all your own.

I don't want my own stream.

I want yours.

You can't get onto The Stream, Ryan.

[sighing]

Maybe some day, but...

For now, Ryan, you're just going to have to get used to being outside.

Happy birthday.

How does it work?

I don't know.

[PA Announcer] The ER is full.

All new admissions please report to the Maternity wing.

Repeat, ER is full.

Please take my child.

I must get back to the beach.

So many grains of sand.

17 hundred million grains of sand per square meter.

We may need the library to handle the overflow.

Uh, if we have to, we have to.

We can't stop it. The virus keeps mutating.

[Ryan] That's why you have to stop it at the source.

[Ryan] That's exactly what we're trying to do.

The virus is not the problem. It's The Stream.

That's why we have to shut it down. We have to kill The Stream.

That is absurd.

There are thousands of people infected by this virus, and you want us to

cut ourselves off from the one source that can give us the answer?

No. The Stream is the problem. That's why you can't tackle the virus at all.

This is a serious problem, Ryan, but it's just a virus.

-It doesn't think. -It doesn't have to. It sees you coming.

Would you stop wasting time? You don't even know what you're talking about.

Can't sneak up on something that sees you coming.

Somebody get him out of here!

-Ryan! -[Ryan] You can't do this!

You must kill The Stream! Don't you hear me?

Somebody do something about The Steam!

What do you expect from someone who's retarded?

[Ryan screaming]

Ryan, I know how you must be feeling.

You've always been jealous of people who are on Stream.

And considering what happened to Stanley, it's only natural that you would develop

a resentment towards The Stream, giving it human qualities.

This isn't about me!

Ryan, listen to yourself.

What you're suggesting.

You're attributing intelligence to a tool.

Look, read it, read it. Look at that. Come on!

It's difficult for me to process handwriting. I...

Every time you thought you'd stopped it,

the virus did something unexpected

as if it was prepared for your cure. Always one step ahead.

What are the odds of that happening?

1 in 1,605,000.

[irritated] Okay, okay. Impossible, that's what it is.

Don't you understand? The Stream created the virus.

It's become so adapted that the damn thing has developed a survival instinct!

Ryan, The Stream builds self-diagnostic

and self-repair functions into all of its programs,

Including this virus.

That hardly qualifies as a survival instinct.

Do you think that distinction even matters to The Stream?

You are talking about it as if it were a person.

The Stream doesn't think, Ryan.

And it doesn't feel. It's not alive.

No. But it does learn because you made it love knowledge.

No, you know, it's not knowledge, it's just information, okay?

And it's hungry, and it's using all of you to feed it as much information as it can.

It doesn't matter how petty or useless or irrelevant the information is.

And because it's not alive, it doesn't care about you.

The Stream will never be full until it can quantify everything!

But you can't quantify everything. You can't quantify the world!

[scoffs]

You will only die trying.

We can shut it down any time we want to.

No. No, you can't, not even if you wanted to.

What are you talking about?

You don't see.

It's out of your control.

Practically every thought you have, every idea, every insight

is all downloaded from that thing.

It's not gonna let you pull the plug on it.

It is not going to let you want to.

How can you know?

How can you be sure?

Because I'm outside.

"Emergency shutdown responses built into The Stream,

base level instructions as a fail-safe system..."

"One of the first demonstrations of The Stream's effectiveness...

After activation, The Stream cut off

all outside access to the shutdown..."

Blah, blah, blah.

Tell me something I don't know.

"The Stream designers ordered the shutdown codes

to be printed in over 700 publications,

but not this one."

It's not in any of them.

The answer's gone.

What if...

Unless, it's just overdue?

Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole.

Ah, your book is overdue, Mr. Cole.

We just lost Dr. Kevington.

It's worse than we thought.

We gotta do something.

[door opens, closes]

-[terminal beeping rapidly] -[grunts]

Hi. How are you?

Oh, Cheryl. Glad you saved me the trouble of having to come find you.

-Let's go. -Where?

West End, Financial District.

Why? There's nothing there but some abandoned buildings

and industrial waste.

And the answer.

Ryan, are you familiar with the expression "a fool's errand"?

Because that's exactly what this is.

Stop treating me like one of you patients, Cheryl.

I don't qualify to get the virus, remember?

Listen, Ryan, I just came by to help, okay?

Then help me. I want you to come with me.

May I ask why?

To access The Stream.

We can do that anywhere, Ryan.

Not this.

All right, okay.

Just tell me what you need to know.

I will, as soon as I figure that out.

[Ryan] Okay.

Well, we're here.

We're nowhere.

Okay, let's go.

What exactly are you hoping to find?

Anything blunt and heavy.

I was referring to the larger picture.

Aren't you trying to help me here?

Did you know I had a crush on you?

Uh... Yeah.

How come you never said anything?

'Cause I never felt worthy of you.

So you're telling me now?

Yeah, 'cause I'm running out of time.

We all are. Ah, perfect!

[sighs]

You know, you used the past tense.

What?

You said you had a crush on me.

-Did I? -Yeah.

Huh. Probably just a slip of the tongue.

Occupational hazard of defective humans.

Probably?

I can't get anything past you, can I?

-[grunting] -[wood creaking]

After you,

m'lady.

[Cheryl] What are we doing in a bank?

-[Cheryl] This is crazy. -Yeah?

-You know that, don't you? -[Ryan] You want to leave, now's the time.

You still haven't told me what we're doing here.

Ah, the last refuge.

You know, sometimes I really don't understand you.

Ow!

I'm here because this is Jesse Cole's office.

You're here 'cause you're curious.

Who's Jesse Cole?

Branch manager of this obsolete bank

and very possibly the smartest man that ever lived.

[chuckles]

Then what's with all the books?

[terminal beeping]

How can you possibly know who he was or how smart he was if he predated The Stream?

His library records. He didn't predate it.

He just liked to read.

Over a period of 30 years, the man checked out virtually every book in the library.

Welcome to the last refuge of literacy.

Since Jesse Cole's time, all published materials put on Stream by law,

any book considered dangerous was destroyed.

Well, for our own sake.

You know, someone once said the only crime worse than burning books

was not reading them.

Certain kinds of information

shouldn't get into the wrong hands, Ryan.

Especially not the wrong minds.

And you know who decided what was to stay and what was destroyed?

-Well, The Stream. It was given-- -The Stream, exactly.

And it decided that anything that could shut it down

was just about as dangerous as it could get.

-Here it is. -Here what is?

Residual guidelines.

Jesse Cole may have been very smart,

but he was also irresponsible, thank God.

He checked out every book in the library but didn't return any of them.

The Stream can't destroy something it doesn't have.

And this book is the program you're gonna use to shut it down.

I doubt that.

[terminals beeping]

Oh, no.

Come on, let's go. Come on. Come on, let's go.

The Stream knows where you are, Ryan.

And it knows what you're trying to do.

It's over.

Not yet. Come on.

Let's go.

They're inside! Surround the building! Let's go!

As long as I'm with you, Ryan, they're gonna know exactly where you are.

-You have to give up! -I just saved your life. Come on.

They're not shooting at me.

-In the vault. -You can't be thinking of going in there!

-That's the idea. -[Mark] Don't move!

[man] Don't move!

[Cheryl] This vault is on a time lock!

There's no way to open it. We're going to suffocate!

Maybe.

There's no air in here.

-I'm sorry to have to do this to you. Here we go. -What?

[grunting]

Ryan, obviously I can't go anywhere.

I really don't think this isn't necessary.

How long before they find a way in?

-How should I know? -Because they know.

Stop it, Ryan!

You didn't really think we were alone, did you?

Records indicate three levels of reinforced steel.

Two hours, 27 minutes by blow torch.

That's way too long.

Let's go, people!

They're going to find a way in here, you know.

I know.

[terminal beeping]

It's a time lock.

There's no way to access the mechanism.

Okay, light up the torch.

You know, even by your own standards, you're a failure.

Excuse me, I'm-I'm trying to read.

You could have gotten rid of me and gotten away.

Instead you have to run away down a dead end

and sit there with a book for two hours--

I wasn't running away.

What's the hell is he doing in there?

He's reading.

Reading what?

She hasn't been able to get a good look.

Well, get a good look!

You know you can't win.

Nothing is impossible.

Nothing is certain...

Unless it's programmed.

[scoffs]

You really don't understand anything, do you?

[chuckling]

They're going to kill you, Ryan.

Do you want to kill me?

No, of course not.

But I want to stop you.

I want to stop you from doing something that will hurt all of us.

There's no humanity.

Not in them, not in you.

Why? Because I think you're wrong?

No, because everybody does.

There's not one dissenting voice.

Not one person.

It's human to disagree.

It's human to make mistakes.

We don't make mistakes.

We have perfect information.

It's especially human to make mistakes

in the face of perfect information.

Like when you want something so much,

even though every bit of information

is telling you you can never ever have it.

It's just a program, Ryan. It's just a tool.

It's a tool that makes all of our lives better.

It controls your lives.

You abdicate your free will to it,

you're not alive.

You're just a terminal.

[scoffs]

You don't know what it's like.

You can't even dream.

'Cause you can't have dreams without challenges.

The Stream has taken all your dreams

and didn't even give you knowledge in return,

just information,

information without meaning

or understanding, context.

It's useless.

He's tricked her.

She's reading the shutdown command

right into The Stream!

Cheryl, turn away!

Get it off!

-What's the matter? -[gasps, exclaims]

You don't want to look in my book?

You don't want to or The Stream doesn't want you to?

Read it.

You used me.

Read it!

We know, Ryan. We know what you're trying to do.

Then do it.

Okay, prove to me

that there's some humanity left in there somewhere.

Prove to me you're still alive.

-[sledgehammer banging] -Read the command.

Choose to look at this!

You risked your life hoping I would shut down The Stream...

But we never will.

[sledgehammer banging]

[gasps]

[sledgehammer banging]

[gasping]

[sledgehammer banging]

[gasping]

[sledgehammer banging]

Why did you do that?

'Cause in a few seconds I'm gonna die.

I wanted to do that my whole life.

[sledgehammer banging]

[sledgehammer banging]

-Come on! Come on! -They are right there.

[Cheryl] Mark, please!

[overlapping shouting]

[Mark] Kill him!

Fail-safe engaged.

[female voice] Program turning...

Stream system shutting down...

[male voice] Translating and translating...

[garbled voices]

The hexadecimal system should be used...

[female voice] ...for algorithmic understanding...

[male voice] ...and translating.

[terminals powering down]

What's happening?

What happened?

We made a choice.

Ryan?

Ryan? Oh, thank God.

Kuh... Ahh... Ttt.

Kuh... Ahh...

Ttt.

Ca... Cat... Cat, cat!

Perfect.

I feel so stupid.

Don't.

It's just going to take time.

All right, let's start at the beginning of the alphabet.

Sound it out.

A...

[all] A...

A for apple.

[all] A for apple.

B for boy.

C for cat.

[Control Voice] We make tools to extend our abilities,

to further our reach and fulfill our aspirations.

But we must never let them define us.

For if there is no difference between tool and maker

then who will be left to build the world?

[girl] Home run!

[overlapping chatter]