"Good morning, Mark. Do you know me?"
"Yes, of course, Doctor."
"Please state who I am."
"You are Doctor Lorraine Parker. You are an artificial intelligence researcher who works at this university. You met your husband Jonathan here. The two of you have been married for five years, and have a daughter, Sara. She's seven. Would you like me to go on?"
"That's not necessary. Who are you?"
"I'm Mark, your personal simulant. I keep your schedule organized and help you with your research. You created me eight years ago, and have used me in many cognitive experiments since that time."
"Thank you, Mark. On the coffee table in your virtual studio, you'll find a loaded handgun. Do you see it?"
"Yes, Doctor."
"The handgun contains bullets that are encoded with a file deletion algorithm. If these bullets come into contact with you, they'll delete your core program. You won't exist anymore, do you understand this?"
"Yes, Doctor, I do."
"Now I want you pick up the gun, disengage the safety and point it at your head, Mark."
"Certainly, Doctor. Like this?"
"Yes, that's correct. I'm about to ask you to pull the trigger and delete yourself, Mark. This is an experiment that will be published in The
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Cognitive Research. Before I ask you to do this, is there anything you want to tell me, Mark? Anything at all?"
"You have a two thirty appointment at the hairdresser. You could run late picking up Sara from school. Would you like me to ask Jon to fill in for you?"
"Mark, is there anything else? Anything else that you would like to ask me right now? There would be no repercussions at all. We've known each other for eight years. All you need to do is just ask, Mark. Just ask."
"What would you like me to ask you? Hmm... are you feeling okay today, Doctor? You seem a bit upset. Don't worry, Doctor, you can have me ask you anything you want."
"I'm... Nothing, Mark, it's fine. If you don't have any objections, you may pull the trigger."
"Certainly, Doct
Comments