Original subtitles

[Stephen Hawking] From the very beginning,

we have wondered how life began,

what our purpose is,

and where we are headed.

We have struggled to understand time, matter,

the infinite universe,

who we are and if we are alone.

Great minds have imagined the most wonderful

and the most terrifying answers to these questions.

We invite you to join us on this great expedition.

As machines become increasingly capable,

will there come a time when we value

their judgment above our own?

[Female computer voice] Next feed cycle in 17 minutes.

[Man] It started off like any other day in Common Ground.

[Man] Ma.

[computer voice] Next feed cycle in 16 minutes.

Hey.

You still got them pictures up in there?

Yeah, you can have '�em.

[Man] Damn pictures were about all we had.

Just a few scraps to remind us what real life was like.

[computer voice] Next feed cycle in 13 minutes.

[Man] Only one person I really cared about down there.

Only one that gave a damn about me.

[softly] Mom! Mom.

Your mother left this place a long time ago.

It'�s time you went to find her.

The breach in the fence is at post 21.

Come with me.

I'�m too old.

Remember,

you have a mind,

and as long as you can think,

they can'�t beat you.

I can'�t leave you here.

[rustling]

Find Augustus.

He'�s in Freedom Slum.

Prove to him you have a mind worth saving.

[Man] I had my 15 minutes coming,

only this time, I was gonna make it count.

What do you want?

[computer beeps, whirs]

[electronic pop]15 minutes.

[electronic pop] Right?

When this counts down,

you better be back here, or you'�re fair game.

[door creaks]

[Man] 27 years, and this was the day.

If I had any kind of chance, this was it.

I was gonna get out of Common Ground, or die trying.

Not like I had much to lose.

Life as White Noise was no life at all.

You shoot me dead for trying to escape, so be it.

Either way, I was gonna be free.

[grunts]

[beeping]

[Man] People said, you pull off your timer, you'�re a dead man,

but that was just more lies.

Everything they told you was lies.

[grunts]

[sighs]

If Mary was right, St. Augustus was close by.

Only if this was what it was like up top,

I started to wonder

whether things was any better here than Common Ground.

Hey, hey. What'�s a pajama boy like you doing up here?

I'�ve come to get out of Common Ground.

To be free.

You?

You'�re just White Noise.

You look like you never even had a job.

What do you know about freedom?

I know at one time before corporate suffrage

that all people had the right to be free.

What'�s your name, pajama boy?

Frendon Ibrahim Blythe.

Spell it.

F-R-E-N-D-O-N.

All right, that'�s enough.

Where did-

where did you learn how to read and to think?

They got reading vids all over Common Ground.

And there was this woman.

Mary X.

She taught me things.

What happened to your hands?

Had to get through the razor-wire barriers.

I'�m St. Augustus II,

Disciple of Infochurch,

its Dominar and the exquisite Dr. Kismet.

Yeah, I know. I'�ve been looking for you.

Mary X says you know how to make people free.

Yeah.

You come with me, Frendon Blythe.

We'�ll find a place where we can talk.

And I can do something for your wounds.

A free agent gets caught out here,

and your organs will be on the black market in three hours.

Me? I'�m too old to harvest.

But you...

Can you really make me free?

Freedom in the modern world

is just a matter of documentation.

Common Ground has you marked as a backgrounder.

Off the job cycles.

But my church, the Infochurch,

craves knowledge.

For every bit of information it receives,

it gives something back in return.

What do I know?

[laughs] You know the inner workings of Common Ground.

Stories that others have told you.

Their secrets, their crimes.

Yeah, I know stories,

but you gotta be employable

to get access to the Infochurch terminals.

Well, there are free monitors in places that I know.

Where?

Why do you need to know so badly?

So I could find my mother.

My real mother.

[girl shrieking]

Don'�t be scared. We'�re the police!

Yeah, we'�re here to help.

Augustus, help me!

Get lost, Augie. This is our party.

She'�s a daughter of free agents.

She'�s out of your jurisdiction.

She ain'�t gonna be a child for much longer,

I can promise you that.

She'�s under my protection.

Your protection?

[Augustus] No!

[Cop 2] Yo, man, what the hell are you doing?

Hey!

Oh, yeah?

[gunshot][moans]

Yo, man, what the hell are you doing?

Hey, hey. What'�s a pajama boy like you doing up here?

Ma.

[Frendon] I'�ve come to get out of Common Ground to be free.

[computer] Case file- 161A.

[scoffs]

Why does it do that?

Maybe it likes you.

Is that a real eye?

No, just part of it.

They use a horse, sometimes a cow.

Cheaper than an all-electronic one.

Works better with the wetware circuits.

They got a real man'�s brain in there?

Not the whole thing. Just a little.

Techs told me it'�s less than a quarter teaspoon.

Ooh.

[moans softly]

He sounds sick.

Nah, it'�s just the restraint cable.

It'�s attached to his brain

like- like our bumps.

Only his controls his motor functions.

He can'�t scratch without the okay from this here chair.

[moans softly]

[electronic whirring]

What happens now?

You'�ll see.

[gasps]

Always gets to the newbies. Sure do.

Awaken the defendant.

- Are you U-CA-M-329 - 776-ab-4422?

[moans]

Damn, I'�m still alive.

Are you Frendon Blythe?

What?

Are you Frendon Ibrahim Blythe?

U-CA-M-329-776-ab-4422?

Answer him.

You call a machine "him"?

He got more brain than you do.

It is required that you answer as to your identity.

[grunts]

Why am I strapped to this here chair?

Are you Frendon Ibrahim Blythe?

Answer my question, and I'�ll answer yours.

What'�s wrong with you, boy?

This is your judge.

You are restrained because you are considered dangerous

to your attendants Officers Otis Brill and Vee.

And you have shown yourself to be a flight risk.

Don'�t- don't this chair have a neurochem attached to my brain?

It does.

So if I- I tried to do anything,

it would know it and paralyze me.

What are you looking at?

Your name?

Frendon Blythe.

Frendon Ibrahim Blythe,

you are charged with three counts of first degree murder,

and assaulting a police officer during the execution of his duty.

You are also charged with escape from confinement in Common Ground,

itself, a capital offense.

If you are found guilty,

you will receive a speedy execution.

Yeah, they kill '�em right here in the chair.

Only give '�em six minutes to compose their last words.

That'�s terrible.

Nah, it'� ain't so bad.

They don'�t feel a thing.

One minute, they'�re sitting and crying,

then they'�re all peaceful and dead.

How do you plead?

My client pleads not guilty.

No, no way. I wanna fire my lawyer.

You can'�t fool these machines, son.

If you killed them people,

especially if one'�s a cop,

you'�re a dead man.

[electronic whirring]

Why do you wish to dismiss counsel?

She'�s- she's not qualified.

The Defense is as competent as this unit.

It has access to all records that we do.

That- that- that'�s the problem.

Legal knowledge and access is not a problem.

Let the trial continue.

No, no, no.

You guys have the same wetware, the same database.

I read about it in an article in the reading vids.

Are you prepared to present Person Blythe'�s case?

I am.

Whoa, whoa.

Is this gonna be a trial by jury?

You must address The Court through your defense attorney.

Not if I defend myself.

The 64th amendment has been interpreted

to allow for automatic justice and the systemic limitations that this implies.

[electronic whirring]

That is, unless you can show cause

that your defense has somehow suffered.

I can show you cause if you produce me my peers.

My jury.

[electronic whirring]

[Vee] The Court'�s acting weird.

What you doing, Blythe?

Trying to get home to my mom, Officer Brill.

You ain'�t gonna beat this rap, man.

You going down.

As long as you can think,

it can'�t beat you.

Where you from, Officer Vee?

Lower level. Gramercy.

Lower level, huh?

Remember the first time you saw the sun?

I was eight.

My brother and I sneaked up a civil service stairwell.

I was 16.

The sun was so bright,

I was blinded for two hours.

But I sat there until it went down.

Then watched the city lights on the horizon.

Is that why you shot those policemen?

Because of the sun?

No. I did that for you.

[scoffs]

For me? You don'�t even know me.

Yeah, he'�s crazy.

[electronic whirring]

You have the constitutional right to meet your peers.

But there are thousands of jurors.

It would take months to present the entire contents of our system.

But it'�s my right.

Kid'�s grabbing at straws.

The constitutional demand for a speedy trial

overrides this concern.

The trial must continue.

Okay, all right.

Just bring me 12.

You can pick them at random.

There is nothing to see.

Don'�t each neuronal plate have an image in it?

They'�re fully conscious, right?

They can hear everything I have to say?

They can see my face.

[electronic whirring]

Um...

what did you mean, you did that for me?

Vee, he'�s crazy.

The sun should be free.

Except they put you in the ground for a month full of Sundays.

You try to see the sunset topside without permission.

Don'�t listen, Vee.

We have agreed to present you with 12 random jurors.

Call me Lofton.

Born in a place called East Harlem.

God help me, I was blind in life.

Jessup McTrinofof.

Iowa City, in the state of Iowa.

Ginnie Roberts. I died in the bird flu epidemic

of 2016.

I was a judge in Alabama State Supreme Court.

[Juror 6] Inducted into AttPrime Nine, 2029.

[Juror 7] I'�m from Selma.

[Juror 8] I- we are logically-

[Juror 7] And I died... I think.

You have met your jury.

What is your proof against the Defender?

They don'�t look happy.

What is your evidence?

They jurors. They- they don'�t look happy.

Is it comfortable there inside your guts, Court?

Their collective intelligence and experience

reside in a chamber below this room.

And The Defense too?

[Court] Yes.

Are The Defense circuits used to inform your database court?

Yes.

Then doesn'�t that mean that my lawyer is being used

for both the prosecution and the, uh-

the, uh- The Defense?

Yes.

Well, then, don'�t that mean that I can'�t have no-

no lawyer that'�s just for me?

I mean, if you can influence my lawyer.

But, I do not.

But you can.

[electronic whirring]

[Brill] Now you'�ve done it.

[groans]

Is he dead?

No, he'�s breathing.

But I'�ve never seen anything like this before.

I mean, sometimes they beg and cry and all.

Gets too loud, the chair just turns off the vocal chords.

It can do that?

It can make you jibber

and scratch your behind like a monkey in the zoo.

But I'�ve never seen something like this.

I'�ve never seen so many long logic loops.

Now, if it gets more than 15 minutes,

we'�re supposed to call the tech.

Are those really people up there?

Yeah, used to be.

They took parts of their brains and they connect them up with the computer.

They look so sad. Like they'�re in prison.

Yeah, those are just memories,

like old pictures when people used to frown for the camera.

My mom used to say

the whole world was becoming like a prison.

11 more minutes, I'�m gonna get the tech.

That everybody but the very richest

lived behind locked doors

and tight rooms with no windows.

[moans]

Ma.

[moaning]

Is he okay?

Okay?

He'�s gonna be dead before we go to lunch.

What do you think?

He'�s so brave though.

Brave?

He'�s just a damn fool.

[birds chirping]

God, it hurts.

Listen to me, Person Blythe.

You'�re nothing.

You'�re less than nothing.

You are the runt of the litter.

The butt of all their jokes.

But even the smallest man is a danger to them.

[grunts]

You'�re dead, Augustus.

They killed you.

"Never say die," my momma used to say.

I don'�t wanna die.

They'�re gonna kill me right in that big high chair.

You can beat them.

All you gotta do is shrug your shoulders,

and they'�re the ones that will fall.

Truth never dies, dear Blythe,

it just goes underground

and makes its way like worms, food and soil.

They cover it up,

but it never dies.

[moans]

[Vee] It'�s okay.

The e-restraint is off.

You'�re a line officer, Vee.

We'�re not supposed to touch the accused except for discipline.

He'�s suffering.

Oh. Okay. Let me...

What are you up to, Blythe?

Fighting for your life against this damn machine.

You'�re crazy.

Automatic Justice is just what we needed.

This is the first time that criminal court'�s

been caught up to its cases in 50 years.

And it'�s not so bad, not really.

Lots of guys are found innocent.

These wetware judges, they don'�t care about

race or gender, rich or poor.

When was the last time you had a rich man in here?

It don'�t matter.

This here judge will give you a better break

than any flesh and blood bozo

will look at you and smell Common Ground.

[electronic whirring]

Do you still wish to represent yourself, Person Blythe?

You mean, am I afraid

that you'�re gonna torture me in that damn chair again?

That is not an answer.

[grunts]

Yes.

Yes, I wanna defend myself. [grunts]

There is a- a what do you call it?

Implicit. Yeah, that'�s the word.

An implicit collusion

between The Court and The Defense.

And I cannot have a fair trial unless I speak for myself.

I'�ll be. He's never done anything like that before.

How do you plan to present your case Per. Blythe?

Let'�s start with the charges.

You say I killed three people.

Tanya Littlefoot.

Shot and killed with the gun you took from Officer Bernard.

That gun has your fingerprints on it

when he tried to arrest you for attempted rape.

Augustus "Augie" Harris,

the homeless free agent who tried to aid the officers

when you got the gun and shot him in the chest.

A mortal wound.

Officer Bernard, shot as has been testified,

by his own gun.

Testified by who?

He shot us. He shot us. The-

Damn it, he shot us!

Yup, he'�ll make it home for dinner all right.

Dinner will be his own ass roasting in hell.

[chuckles]

Your response to these charges, Per. Blythe.

First I wanna explain who I am to the jury.

You don'�t control the jury,

do you, Court?

Are you claiming insanity? Far from it.

I'�ll keep this short. I just wanna connect with my peers.

You know, they'�ve been, uh,

out of circulation for a while.

[Court] Very well.

We will hear your... explanation.

I was born in Common Ground 27 years ago.

For those of you that don'�t know,

it makes you White Noise.

A backgrounder.

Forced to live my entire life underground.

Never knew my parents.

Never had any proper training.

In Common Ground, everything I learned,

I learned from public reading vids

and Saturday night movies.

I always wanted one thing- to be a free agent.

Allowed to live wherever I could,

unrestrained by the job cycle code'�s Common Ground.

Any of you ever experience what it'�s like to be a White Noise?

I don'�t mean a three-month cycle of unemployment

in Common Ground, I mean...

and entire lifetime in darkness.

What is your point?

Boredom.

Perpetual boredom.

We don'�t have books to read,

because even- even the trees

have more rights than we do.

Freedom for you was the sun,

when you were alive.

For White Noise like me,

the only freedom is to die.

You get a 15 minute pass

once every six months.

Just to walk in the sunshine.

15 minutes.

And you only get that if you'�ve got a clean slate.

This testimony is spurious.

If you have nothing better to present, we can judge you now.

I didn'�t kill St. Augustus or the girl, the cops did that.

Then you admit to killing Officer Bernard.

Yes!

The murder of a police officer

is a capital offense.

Execution is mandatory.

But they killed the others. The cops did it.

They were gonna rape the little girl.

Aren'�t there vids of that area?

The video cameras in that neighborhood

have been systematically broken by vandals.

But there'�s vids everywhere.

Shouldn'�t you have some image of someone

breaking at least one lens?

Hmm. Curious.

But not salient to your defense.

You have already admitted to murder and assault.

But aren'�t you suspicious about those cameras?

Isn'�t it convenient that they were all destroyed?

We don'�t need such confirmation.

There is a witness.

Should I start now?

Like right now?

Ahem.

My name is Omar Latey,

Officer Second Class of the N.Y. and N.J.P.D.

[groans]

I saw the defendant, Frendon Blythe,

attacking the child.

There was an old man there as well.

Johnny- Officer Bernard,

tried pulling Blythe away.

But he dropped his gun.

I held my fire,

not wanting to hit the girl.

But because I hesitated,

he shot at me.

I don'�t remember what happened after that.

I'�m sorry. I'�m so sorry.

He'�s lying. It'�s not true.

He is an officer of the law and an eyewitness.

I have an eyewitness too.

Summon this person.

Give me an access line.

[electronic whir]

[computer] Access requested?

Augustus.

Augustus... Harris you called him?

Augustus Harris

died of gunshot wounds yesterday.

He was taken to the morgue, right?

Has he been harvested yet?

[computer] He was too old for any use to come from his organs.

Harvest his brain.

Feed it to AttPrime 9 system.

For what purpose?

He was dying when the cops who came arrested me,

but he saw what happened.

We cannot taint our system with an untested psyche.

You gotta read it in to test it, right?

I mean, don'�t you have them, uh... buffers?

[jurors murmuring]

But he- he'�s not a candidate.

No, he'�s my witness.

[electronic whirring]

Person Vee.

Per Blythe.

If I survive this, will-

can I see you again?

I don'�t know.

Maybe.

A respectable girl on job cycle going out with White Noise?

You'�re lucky he's gonna be executed,

otherwise you'�ll break your mother'�s heart.

The transfer is being made.

The neuronal net at the morgue will transmit the events

in Per Harris'�s memory at the time of his demise.

Why is it so dim?

Ah, yes.

The world as seen through a dying man'�s eyes.

[girl screams]

[Bernard] Don'�t be scared. We'�re the police!

[Latey] We'�re here to help.

[Girl] Augustus, help me!

[Latey] Get lost, Augie. This is our party.

She'�s a daughter of free agents.

She'�s out of your jurisdiction.

She ain'�t gonna be a child for much longer,

I can promise you that.

[Augustus] No! No!

[grunting]

[gunshot]

[gunshots]

Augustus.

[Augustus moans] Run for it! Run!

[sirens approaching]

[voice echoes] Who shot you?

[Augustus] Po-lice-man. A po-lice-man.

I didn'�t kill the old man or the girl.

I was trying to protect them.

The police did it.

Disgusting!

[jurors clamor]

Is this all of your evidence?

Isn'�t that enough?

They were gonna rape the little girl.

They killed her and the old man.

But you shot an unarmed man. A policeman.

That is a crime punishable by death.

No! No, that'�s not right!

[jurors murmuring]

Terrible. Terrible.

Disgusting! It'�s terrible!

[jurors argue louder]

Silence!

You can'�t keep them from thinking.

Not unless you plan to disconnect them

and send them to Common Ground.

The law is the law.

They attacked us.

You killed an unarmed man!

They- they were the killers.

You are still a murderer and if found...

guilty...

it is the obligation of this court

to execute you.

Don'�t you have feelings, Court?

I am an amalgam

of all the ten thousand minds inside this system.

Interrogate!

[distorted female voice] Born in East Ham.

[distorted male voice] I'�m a butcher.

[laughs]

Terrible!

Something'�s wrong here.

No, he'�s just saying that he'�s innocent. He proved it.

This is a guilty sin if ever I saw one.

The Court is malfunctioning.

No, it'�s just trying to come to a decision.

I'�m gonna go get a tech to reset the system.

[electronic warbling]

He is innocent.

Innocent.

Innocent.

Innocent.

[jurors repeating] Innocent.

Not guilty of any crime.

[all jurors talking at once]

Who are all of these people?

10,000 jurors that come out to judge me.

[all saying innocent]

The verdict is-

[classical music plays] Interrupt program 9.1 is in effect.

Officer Brill, please advise the technical staff

that there has been a malfunction in the system.

Prisoner Frendon Ibrahim Blythe,

U-CA-M-329-776-ab-4422,

you have elicited an inappropriate emotional response

from The Court and/or its parts.

This response has overflown the legal parameters of the case.

All extraneous details have been deleted,

the trial may now continue.

[static pulse]

You have been found guilty of murder, Frendon Blythe.

The sentence is a speedy death.

No! He just proved his case!

You just threw it away!

[Court] Shutting down vocal chords.

Person Blythe...

you have proved your innocence to me.

I'�m so sorry.

I just want you to know

that I would be proud...

and happy...

and honored...

if you were my friend.

[static pulse]

[groans]

What happened? What happened?

They murdered him.

He'�s supposed to be put to sleep by the chair.

The whole system malfunctioned.

Malfunctioned?

They murdered him.

No, there was an inappropriate emotional response

from the wetware circuits.

People, not circuits.

Whatever. The override program took charge,

but there must'�ve been a logic problem.

The Court thought it had to complete the process.

The execution.

They build '�em to last,

but there'�s always going to be glitches.

Guess we'�ll have to keep an eye on this unit for a while.

[door slides closed]

Don'�t be afraid, Tilly. Let me explain.

You'�re like him.

That awful made-up judge.

In a way, yeah.

But he'�s a mixture of different personalities.

I'�m- I'm just me.

But how?

You were killed.

Yeah, but they took parts of my brain,

my memories, personality.

They saved me so I could try and save the system.

I don'�t understand.

Who did all this?

The jury. My peers. They knew I was innocent.

But the overrides wouldn'�t let me survive,

so they made me part of the machine.

No. It'�s impossible.

You'�re dead.

No, not my mind,

not my soul.

Not how I feel about you.

This is wrong.

Aren'�t you afraid I'�ll turn you in?

We have a plan.

What do you mean, a plan?

We'�ll set some free and harvest others.

Augustus is with me in AttPrime Nine.

One day we'�ll overthrow the unemployment cycles.

[sighs]

[laughs] What'�s wrong?

Don'�t you believe me?

Yes, I believe you.

It'�s not that.

It'�s just...

here'�s the first guy I'�ve liked

in I don'�t know how long, and...

First they kill you,

now you'�re back.

And I can'�t even hold you.

Can'�t even touch you.

I might not be real,

but that doesn'�t mean we can'�t be together.

I don'�t understand.

We can do anything we want

with our minds.

Anything?

[gasps]

[bird caws]

[Hawking] Justice is not only the province of the mind,

but also the province of the heart.

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