voicetesting, canon is Black Mirror

[subroutined]

It's a bit creepy, isn't it? And if you think about it, it won't help anyone after you're gone, pretendin' to be other people on the internet.

[ Ash blinks twice. ]

You're pretending to be a program who's pretending to be a dead man.

That's definitely creepy. Mar wouldn't like it.

Comments

[formersurgeon]

My mun is amused. And hopes your mun doesn't keep you in the attic.

[subroutined]

No, me mun only keeps me in her brain. Which... I can't decide if that's worse or not.

[formersurgeon]

Hopefully you have a lot more interaction. It's got to be lonely, locked up in an attic.

[subroutined]

It can be. But I was never alone. I'd get visits on weekends and special occasions.

[formersurgeon]

Do you ever want more than that?

[subroutined]

[ Oh. Erm. There's that troubling word now. "Want." Ash pauses, blinks. ]

S'not about what I want.

[formersurgeon]

But what you want is still important.

[subroutined]

[ Again, he pauses, parsing what she could mean by "important." ]

It's not— I don't—.

I wanted this. [ He wanted a to have a body. And now he has one, which he gestures to. ] May not be a looker, but it's better than the cloud.

[formersurgeon]

A body seems to be a pretty low bar. I guess what's important is whether or not you're happy.

[subroutined]

[ This whole conversation is pushing him towards places he hasn't thought to go. He's not sure what to think. Is he happy? Is that actually important, like she said?

He's quite confused. ]

How can you tell if you are? Happy.

[formersurgeon]

[That's the thing, isn't it? Joan has had one brush with an AI, but Sherlock was able to determine that it didn't actually have consciousness. But Ash does, or at least as far as Joan can tell. Doesn't that mean he has emotions? Or at least the capacity for them?]

Do you feel joy? Sadness? Love?

[subroutined]

[ He can display emotions, just as he can close his eyes at night and breathe steadily and feign sleep. These are things he does at the request of other people. But to generate them himself...? Can he do that? ]

I can. If you want me to, I can feel those things.

[formersurgeon]

[The thought of his emotions being entirely at the command of others makes Joan sad, and her voice softens further.]

What I want doesn't matter. Do you feel them without anyone telling you to?

[subroutined]

I think—. [ He starts, but then stops because he isn't sure. Then starts again because, well, he's already started. ] I think I'm able to.

[formersurgeon]

[She considers how to proceed, how to put things in terms that they will both understand.]

What makes you smile?

[subroutined]

Funny things. Disco music on the radio. A picture of me when I was younger, smiling like a madman.