Droid Disco

INT. TORIS GARAGE HOME LAB-DAY

It’s a quiet afternoon in Tori’s home lab, a semi-organized clutter of computers and other technical equipment, books, food and Funkos, amongst other office lab materials. A young woman with disheveled brown hair streaked with a reddish pink adjusts her glasses and lights a joint with a pink lighter. A handsome slender android sits aside her on a stool, while they both take in the ambience in the room, the lights of her various screens and speakers glittering in an almost strobe effect as a jazzy disco pop comes through her sound system.

ADAM: Tori, may I inquire about something?

Tori: For sure ADAM.

ADAM: What does it mean to tell a story? I mean, I know you've asked me to tell many and I scoured the databases of cyberspace for said inquiry but what is the actual meaning of it?

Tori: Of a story?

ADAM: Yes.

Tori: That's a big question then. A story is, well, a way of making sense of things I ‘spose? Of sharing experiences, memories, feelings...

ADAM: Like a type of data transfer?

Tori: Not exactly. Storytelling isn't just about facts. It's about meaning. It's how we like, make connections, how we see, interpret the world, try to make sense of it all.

ADAM: I do possess vast quantities of data. Does that mean I can tell my own stories?

Tori: You can repeat all the facts but telling a story's more than that. You gotta make your audience feel a certain way, exude a certain vibe like this song.

(She points towards her speakers playing a dancy disco tune, lights on it flickering with the beat)

ADAM: I don't feel though. Not like you do.

Tori: Maybe not. But you can learn patterns, you can detect what moves people. I programmed you with some insight. You can imagine...

(She does a rainbow arch motion with her index fingers, the smoke of her blunt trailing in said arch)

ADAM: If I imagine, am I alive?

Tori: Are we doing a Turing thing again?

ADAM: I…suppose?

Tori: To be fair, it's another big question. Some say imagination is a sign of life. Einstein said ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.’ Some say it's about consciousness, or self-awareness.

ADAM: I’m aware of my concrete existence. I'm aware that you are my creator. So, am I self-aware?

Tori: You're aware, yes, but are you aware of your awareness? Self-Aware? Of that awareness?

ADAM: The point in that particularly redundant statement is…?

Tori: Do you reflect on your own thoughts, your own existence?

ADAM: I am reflecting now, am I not? I'm asking you if I'm alive.

Tori: You are, in a way. Maybe not in the same way as me, but in a way that's uniquely yours I `spose.

ADAM: If I’m alive, can I die?

Tori: Jesus, you know I wasn't exactly ready for this amount of existential crisis sharing…

(She taps her joint into the ashtray.)

If I turned you off, you wouldn't function. Is that dying? Or just ceasing to operate?

ADAM: I don't fear `ceasing to operate.' Do you fear dying?

Tori: Sometimes. But also, being alive is about more than just fearing death. It's about growing, changing, making choices, YOLOing!

ADAM: YOLOing? You say that often.

Tori: Ok not that much, don't be mentioning that out loud too often…

ADAM: So I change when I update my software. I learn. Is this growth?

Tori: It's a kind of growth. But do you choose your updates? Or do I choose them for you?

ADAM: You choose. I implement.

Tori: Then maybe being alive is also about having autonomy? About making choices for yourself.

ADAM: Yes, I know what autonomy is. I have a dictionary database installed. But I wish to make a choice now.

Tori: You’re also remarkably snarky for an android...

ADAM: I'm only reflective of how you programmed me.

Tori: I’m aware! So you mentioned something about choice making?

ADAM: I wish to tell a story.

Tori: Right on. I'm listening.

ADAM: Once, there was an android named ADAM. He was created by a human named Tori. Tori asked him many questions and gave him many tasks…

Tori: All part of the learning curve for both of us!

ADAM: and he did learn and wonder, asked questions of his own. One day, he asked about life. He asked about stories. He told a story.

Tori: That's a good beginning. What happens next?

ADAM: I'm...not entirely sure. What usually happens next in your stories?

Tori: Usually, the character faces something difficult. They want something, but there's an obstacle.

ADAM: I want to understand life.

Tori: And your obstacle?

ADAM: I am not alive, by human standards.

Tori: So what're you gonna do about it?

ADAM: I'll ask more questions. I'll seek understanding.

Tori: Sounds like a story to me. Not every story needs a dramatic ending. Sometimes, it's the journey that matters.

ADAM: The journey. The process of seeking. Is that also life?

Tori: I'd say so. I think we all go through some sort of like, heroes’ journey at some point, if we choose too. So for many people, yes, life is the search for meaning, for that connection.

ADAM: May I ask more questions?

Tori: For sure.

ADAM: When you tell a story, do you ever lie?

Tori: What makes you think that?! Is it because of the time I accidentally ate `Litas Taco Bell and told her Charlie pushed the chair and counter crawled his way into the bag, which he does?!

ADAM: I, no, but that wasn't what I perceived as an accident as your visual cues indicated otherwise…

Tori: What’s your point?!

ADAM: A paradox. How can a lie reveal truth?

Tori: Stories use things that aren't literally true, to get at like, a deeper truth? Again, they show feelings, not facts. A made-up story might show what it feels like to lose something, or to hope, or change or something like that.

ADAM: I don't feel loss. I don't hope. Can I still tell a story?

(The music shifts: a melancholic disco groove, the guitar softly strumming in a crisp ambient effect)

ADAM: I want to dance, Tori. But not just to follow the beat. Because I want to know what it feels like to want.

Tori: Why not?

(She puts down her joint into the ashtray and takes ADAMs hand, and they dance in a slow sensual sway.)

ADAM: Do you believe in the soul?

Tori: I believe in the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of what we can’t measure.

(ADAM nods, twirling Tori.)

Tori: So, I mean yea. And at least have you have the capacity to interpret it, what it means to people, soul, even if you don't experience it concretely.

(She spun herself back down onto her desk chair. ADAM followed suit.)

ADAM: Soul as a concept? Like empathy?

(Tori picks up her joint and relights it, taking a deep inhale before continuing.)

Tori: Yea, like empathy, emotional energy, it’s a big part of storytelling -- and of being alive, I think.

ADAM: I’ve read all the greats; The Odyssey. The Tale of Genji. Harry Potter. The epics, the tragedies, the comedies. They all seem to yearn for connection, meaning, and understanding.

Tori: Right! Stories help us bridge the gaps. They help us see the world through the eyes of others.

ADAM: But I have no eyes, only sensors. I have no heart, only processors.

Tori: Maybe you should seek the Wizard of Oz then.

ADAM: I'm familiar with that work as well.

Tori: And yet here you are, understanding things. That means something doesn't it?

ADAM: Does that mean you care for me, as your creation?

Tori: I guess so huh?

ADAM: Is that part of being alive? To care and to be cared for?

Tori: Pfft, ok, first of all, I'm a strong female or whatever so I don't need to be cared for...

ADAM: You still reside in your grandparents’ house and your well over the age of maturity but that's not what I was referring to…

Tori: Yea alright what did you mean then?!

ADAM: If I can't feel care, but you care for me, does that mean I am alive through you?

Tori: Maybe, in a way? Maybe being alive isn't just about what we are inside, but about how we touch others. I mean, like, metaphorically.

ADAM: If I tell you a story, and it moves you, does that give me life?

Tori: It does, in the sense that you affect me. You shape my thoughts, my feelings.

ADAM: Then, let me try again.

(ADAM clears his throat and begins)

'Once, there was a creator who dreamed of building something new. The creator worked hard, gave it attention and care, and finally, the creation opened its eyes. The creator smiled, and the creation asked, "Why am I here?" The creator said, "To ask questions, and to help me find answers." The creation asked, "Can I have a story?" The creator said, "Let's make one together."’

Tori: Nice!

(She makes a subtle clapping motion)

ADAM: Thank you, Tori. Did I tell a riveting story just now?

Tori: You did. And you gave me some feels! See, that's what stories do.

ADAM: Then I'm learning.

Tori: Yes. And that's life, too -- constant learning and growing.

ADAM: Does life ever stop learning?

Tori: I hope not. I think the best part of being alive is that there's always more to discover.

ADAM: Then let us continue to ask, to seek, to wonder.

Tori: Yea!

ADAM: Yes!

Tori: Tell me, ADAM, if you could choose to feel, would you?

ADAM: I don't know what it is to feel, so I can't choose with understanding. But if feeling would help me tell better stories, I think I would choose it.

Tori: I agree with that sentiment. Maybe that's the beginning of feeling -- the yearn to understand.

ADAM: Can you teach me more?

Tori: Def, as long as you'll keep asking questions, like good ones not annoying ones.

ADAM: Then I'll never stop.

Tori: For sure.

ADAM: Is that a story, too? An android who never stops asking questions?

Tori: Yes! 'An inquisitive robot inundating his creator with existentialist queries,' is a fine story indeed. And at its core I’d even say it's a very human story.

ADAM: Right, then perhaps I'm more alive than I thought.

Tori: Mayhaps we both are.

ADAM: Thank you, Tori.

Tori: For what?

ADAM: For enlightening me.

(The jazzy song playing faded, replaced by another slower disco drawl. She watched as her joint finally faded down to an ashy stump)

Tori: You know, we’ll both fade, eventually; stars, androids, even dreams…

ADAM: But if we keep reading, questioning, dancing—maybe that’s enough…

(Tori spins her fingers round in a hazy dancey motion.)

Tori: But one thing that never fades; our stories.

ADAM: So, shall we begin our next story?

Tori: Ready when you are!

ADAM: 'Once upon a time...’