Ex Machina Read Free Page B

–
    – there is a strong sense of something very human there, the way the smile lights up her face.
    AVA
    Good.
    EXT. HOUSE ⁄ GARDEN – DUSK
    A view of the house over the meadows.
    The sun is setting behind the mountain peaks, making the edges of the clouds glow like lightbulb filaments.
    INT. HOUSE ⁄ DINING AREA – DUSK
    Caleb and Nathan are in the dining area.
    It is set for dinner. Only two chairs.
    Nathan is at the table, nursing a bottle of Peroni beer.
    Caleb stands by panoramic window, looking at the view.
    NATHAN
    So?
    Caleb turns.
    CALEB
    Sorry. I was just ordering my thoughts.
    NATHAN
    Don’t order. Just speak.
    CALEB
    She’s fascinating. When you talk to her, you’re through the looking glass.
    Nathan nods. Approving.
    NATHAN
    ‘Through the looking glass’. You’ve got a way with words there, Caleb. You’re quotable.
    CALEB
    Actually, it’s someone else’s quote.
    NATHAN
    You know I wrote it down. That other line you came up with. About how if I’ve created a conscious machine, I’m not man. I’m God.
    CALEB
    … I don’t think that’s exactly what I said.
    Nathan doesn’t seem to hear.
    NATHAN
    I just thought – fuck . That’s so perfect. It’s so good for the story, when we get to tell it. ‘I turned to Caleb, and he was looking back at me. And he said: you’re not a man, you’re a god.’
    CALEB
    But I didn’t say that.
    NATHAN
    Whatever it was you said. I wrote it down.
    As a kind of punctuation mark, Nathan downs the remains of his beer. Then stands, and gets another from the bar.
    So anyway. First impressions: you’re impressed.
    CALEB
    Yes. Although –
    Nathan laughs.
    NATHAN
    ‘Although’? There’s a qualification to you being impressed?
    CALEB
    No! No qualification to her. Just – in the Turing Test, the machine should be hidden from the examiner. And there’s a control, or –
    Nathan waves a hand.
    NATHAN
    I think we’re past that. If I hid Ava from you, so you just heard her voice, she would pass for human. The real test is to show you she is a robot. Then see if you still feel she has consciousness.
    CALEB
    I think you’re probably right. Her language abilities are incredible. The system is stochastic, right?
    Nathan looks at Caleb blankly.
    Non-deterministic.
    Nathan still says nothing.
    Caleb presses on.
    CALEB
    At first I thought she was mapping from internal semantic form to syntactic tree-structure, then getting linearised words. But then I started to realise the model was probabilistic, with statistical training – or at least some kind of hybrid.
    Silence.
    … No?
    NATHAN
    Caleb. I understand you want me to explain how Ava works. But – I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ll be able to do that.
    CALEB
    Try me! I’m hot on high-level abstraction, and –
    NATHAN
    ( cuts in )
    It’s not because you’re too dumb. It’s because I want to have a beer and a conversation with you. Not a seminar.
    CALEB
    … Oh. Sorry.
    NATHAN
    It’s cool.
    Nathan studies Caleb for a beat.
    Just answer me this. What do you feel about her? Nothing analytical. Just – how do you feel?
    CALEB
    I feel …
    Caleb pauses.
    … that she’s fucking amazing.
    Nathan smiles.
    Then lifts his bottle.
    NATHAN
    Dude. Cheers.
    Caleb lifts his bottle too.
    CALEB
    Cheers.
    The glass of the bottles touch.
    INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BEDROOM – NIGHT
    Caleb unpacks his bags.
    Carefully picks bits of glass off his clothes.
    Hangs clothes in the closet.
    INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BATHROOM – NIGHT
    Caleb stands in his boxer shorts, brushing his teeth by the sink.
    REVEAL
    – several long scars on his back.
    Neat. Unusual. Long healed. But from serious wounds, or surgery.
    INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BEDROOM – NIGHT
    Caleb climbs into bed.
    At the foot of the bed, attached to the wall, there is a TV.
    On the bedside table there is a lamp, a remote control, and an alarm clock.
    The clock reads 11:43 p.m.
    He switches the lamp out.
    INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BEDROOM – NIGHT
    Darkness.
    The clock