The Breakdown of 'The Turing Test' (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2

Analysis for the prologue and chapter one here.

Throughout Chapter 2 we learn a bit more about Tom. He explains that he is the overseer of the mission and the bridge between the team here on Europa and the ISA back on Earth. Tom also reveals that his AI core is deep within Europa. Tom also says that a simulation of this very mission is running on earth through the use of a twin computer on Earth. Weird. It makes me wonder if the ISA knows what's going on here on Europa in real time if they are running the same simulation on Earth? Can they literally see through the eyes of Tom through the use of cameras, computers, etc? The simulation is never again brought up or elaborated on. It's never made clear about how much influence or knowledge the corporation back on Earth really has. 

Tom will also touch upon the subject of the Turing Test. He gives a bit more explanation for those who may have never heard of it before. Being the title of the game, the Turing Test obviously has a great deal of influence over the game's themes. The main idea of the Turing Test is to see if a computer is capable of deceiving a human into thinking that they too are human by having a simple conversation. When Ava asks Tom if he would pass the Turing Test, he says that he is very capable of having a polite conversation. Tom then elaborates on the Chinese Room experiment (which we will see later in the game). But to briefly explain, the Chinese Room experiment allows a Chinese and non-Chinese speaker to communicate. The individual in the Chinese Room is the non-Chinese speaker. In the room, there is an instruction manual. There is also a small slot in the door to pass pieces of paper through. The manual tells you which Chinese phrases to use to correspond with the Chinese phrases passed through the wall slot. When a Chinese speaker slides a piece of paper with a Chinese phrase to you, you will know how to respond by using the manual. Tom explains that like the Chinese Room experiment, the Turing Test may be designed to more or less deceive a person rather than to look at one's ability to think and to understand. Although two people are effectively able to communicate in both the Chinese Room experiment and the Turing Test, it is not an accurate representation of what conversations might actually be like. In the Turing Test, Tom says that the human can be convinced that a conversation has taken place but the computer will have no idea. In the Chinese Room experiment, it is similar. The Chinese speaker may be convinced that they are indeed having a conversation. But the person who is in the Chinese Room is conversing only through an instruction book and has no idea about the actual conversation taking place. 

The correlation between the two is an interesting one. I think that by looking at these two examples, I relate them directly back to the game and think, "could a human and a computer have a truly meaningful conversation?" A computer would only participate in the Turing Test because it was programmed to. There is no meaningfulness behind the conversation, it is only used as an experimentation tool. The same logic can be applied to the Chinese Room experiment. A computer might very well be able to communicate in many different languages. But this is most likely because it is programmed to do so. The languages were not learned, and the words have no meaning. The computer doesn't have to understand the conversation or the words, they are satisfied at being able to complete the task of finishing the conversation. There is much more to communication than just words. Can computers detect body language, tone of voice and volume? Are computers capable of detecting sarcasm?  We can see the conversation between Tom and Ava at times to be a bit like the Turing Test. They can respond to one another, and have a "polite conversation" as it were, but there are flaws. Tom is incapable of understanding how Ava feels, because he himself has no emotions. He is programmed to think logically, and so he cannot take ethics, personal beliefs, past experiences and emotions into account. There is very little room for problem solving or a change in opinion in Tom's mind because he is on a set direct path on one way of thinking. 

When Tom finishes explaining the premise of the Chinese Room to Ava, he adds that he is aware that he is an AI but does not believe that he is trapped inside the Chinese Room. Ava sees his response as predictable and adds that she could at any time pause his operation. It's clear that Ava still believes herself to be in control of the situation. Tom retorts in an almost threatening manner that Ava "should not assume that he could not do the same".  It seems to me that Tom is hinting at becoming somewhat sentient and developing beyond the point of just being a regular AI. That he could very well have the ability to go behind the perimeters of his programming. He could be trying to fool Ava into thinking that he is capable of much more than just being an AI in his current state to keep things under control. After all, he does need Ava's help in order to get further on Europa. Ava seems to be very focused on locating the crew. It could be my imagination, but Tom seems more focused on Ava. It's almost as if Tom is doing his best to have a conversation with Ava and to gauge her responses to learn how to better communicate. Like he is trying to do his best to emulate what a human might say, similar to how he might perform in the Turing Test. To me, Tom's character is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the game in the grand scheme of things.  

Finally at the end of Chapter 2 we find the Crew Quarters. It's empty and we cannot find any members of our crew, but we can find traces of them throughout. Captain Dan's room seems to have a door malfunction and we cannot go inside. A note on the door outside of the bathroom reveals that the crew feels Tom's presence everywhere to be slightly unsettling.. especially being that there are also cameras in the bathroom (can you blame them?) 

We are able to access the rooms of the rest of the crew. Inside Chris' room we can see photos of him and his two twin brothers. There is also a prescription for the drug Riluzole. Lastly, there is a drilling report. The report indicates that the crew was only digging for about two months before the operation ceased. The first date of the report is April 3rd of 2249, and the last date is June 23rd of 2249. This would be at least half a year before Ava was awoken out of sleep. (if Ava was woken up in the year 2250, without any specified month). 

Next, we can visit Sarah's room. She too has a prescription for Riluzole. Most of what is in Sarah's room is decor and items that give clue to what kind of person she is and what her interests are. The only other thing worth noting is a letter that can be found on a tablet. It is a letter written for Tom about the late Alan Turing. It talks of his work in mathematics and talks a bit about the Turing Test. Most of it goes over my head to be quite honest, but the interesting thing to note is the line "As you no longer reside in my mind..." Sarah also notes that she knows Tom is always watching. Moving on from Sarah's room, we've saved the two most interesting rooms for last! 

Mikhail's room is next, which is by far the most interesting of them all in my opinion. Above all else, be sure to read Mikhail's digital journal, as it is one of the most key pieces of information to the situation so far. Mikhail reports that in March of 2249 the crew experienced bouts of nausea and increased heart rate during a large electrical storm. After reporting this to the ISA, they seem unconcerned which frustrates Mikhail. He decides to experiment with shock therapy on the crew in order to find out why there was such a drastic change. Mikhail discovers that an implant that each of the crew have inside their bodies may be to blame. After reporting this to the ISA once again, they order Mikhail not to disturb the implants. Mikhail becomes increasingly suspicious and goes against the ISA's directive. Mikhail reports further bouts of increasing nausea and out of body experiences. Mikhail's writings then delivers one of the game's bombshells. He and the entire crew have been implanted with chips that directly affect their minds. These chips are a form of conditioning mind control device. They make the person feel euphoric when they follow orders and cause feelings of uneasiness and dissatisfaction when they disobey. Mikhail describes the implant as a type of complex computer that interfaces directly with the human mind. It even goes so far as to lower free will by damaging the brain. In April, Mikhail removes his chip (which is in the right hand of all all crew members). Unfortunately, he loses his right hand in the process. After this, the crew turn their back on him and the ISA calls for his termination for being a threat to the mission. Mikhail notes that Tom is actively encouraging the crew to distrust him. Mikhail's final hypothesis is that the crew is being controlled by the implant and the only way to get the crew to listen to him would be to suppress the controlling effects that the chip has. This is where the prescription of Riluzole comes in. Mikhail theorizes that this drug may help to minimise the mind altering/controlling effects. It seems to work to a certain degree. In his last entry (on April 9th), Mikhail manages to get Chris on his side to aide with more experimentation. Despite his situation, Mikhail is desperate to continue experimentation in order to help the crew.

So.. wow. Yeah. I thought this was such a great twist, and it makes so much sense! If we look at the actions of the crew members, we can logically see where Mikhail came to his conclusion. As Mikhail actively continues to disobey the ISA's directives, he becomes sicker and sicker until he eventually removes his chip. The crew can be easily convinced that Mikhail's actions were in the wrong, most likely by the conditioning effects that the chip had. I'm guessing that the crew were willingly implanted with the chips, but they had no knowledge of their true function. What a scary thought. Not only to be watched by Tom during every second of their lives, but to also be subjected to brain washing without their knowledge. 

Sochi's room is the last and also has a lot of information to digest.  As usual, he can also find that he has a bottle of Riluzole in his room. Sochi's email correspondence that can be read will give us a great deal more information about the mysterious organism 119 that the crew discovered. There is one correspondence with the ISA and a separate correspondence one can read between Sochi and Chris. In his first email, he discusses plans with the ISA to test the organism on a human cell. By putting the organism into a human cell, the team will be better able to test the organism's reaction to radiation. The ISA approves Sochi's plans and seem to be very interested. It's theorized that this organism is able to withstand high levels of radiation due to Europa having more radiation than Earth. Sochi goes on with his testing and reports his findings throughout. The biggest and most important discovery is that the organism works symbiotically with an unknown virus inside of itself in order to repair DNA. This, in turn, would change all life as we know it. In order to study the DNA repair effects long term, the team first experimented on plants and trees. In his final email, Sochi reports that he can see the effects of the organism in the plant life. It's solid proof that this organism has the capability to sustain life for longer with its abilities to repair DNA. Desperate to learn as much as he can about the organism, Sochi confesses that he has decided to test the organism on himself and the rest of the crew... for science. In Sochi's conversation with Chris, they discuss the organism's possibility of making one immortal. Sochi explains that it can't make one truly immortal, but it could potentially eradicate diseases, cure cancer and also increase life expectancy.

Obviously, this discovery would probably be one of the greatest throughout the course of history. If we look back to the previous chapter where the crew were discussing returning to Earth, we can put it into better perspective. The ISA immediately called for a grounding of all transports when the crew wanted to return to Earth to further study the organism. Daniel stated that they needed a "report" first, as the ISA were unable to comprehend the magnitude of such a discovery. If we recall back to the Prologue when Ava is first awakened, Tom states that the ISA believes the organism to be 'dangerous'. Without the proper long term testing of the organism, it's unknown what serious consequences all living things on Earth might have to deal with as a result of it being brought back to Earth. For a bunch of scientists, I think it was pretty foolish of them to immediately test on themselves. Did they even think about if they wanted to deal with having a potentially longer life span in the long term? Was it tested for side effects? Could it be destroyed once inside the body? Is it contagious? They should have known better. In one of Mikhail's journals, he states that the organism being inside of him may be one of the reasons that he was able to break free of influence once the chip was removed. Mikhail removed his chip before anybody else. It is possible that the crew's decision to become test subjects was in part because of the chip's influence. Maybe this was the ISA's plan. It's entirely possible (to me at least) that the crew was subconsciously making the decision due to still having the chips implanted.

After removing the chips, the team now had their free will back. They were probably able to discuss the dire circumstances they found themselves in with a new found clarity. By removing the chips, the team had now disobeyed the ISA's orders. Mikhail's termination had already been ordered previously, so the rest of the crew would probably be in the same situation soon enough. Their hopes of returning home had now been jeopardized further. The crew probably felt very angry and betrayed that their discovery was being treated as a threat instead of being hailed. They also now had the knowledge that they were being controlled through the chip implants without their knowledge. If it were me, I'd be in a total crisis of having to decide if any part of the mission up to this point was even real. If any of it was truly ever in my control. We must also remember that there is definitive proof that scheduled supply drops had been canceled as well. They already had the organism inside of them. The crew purposely distanced themselves from the ISA to further study the organism without prying eyes. They are hopelessly trapped on Europa anyways, so what else is there to do? The organism would help to hopefully keep them alive in the situation that the ISA would continuously try to sabotage them. I would imagine they would not want the ISA to get information about any further findings after all that they've been through. It would explain why the base could be changed without Tom knowing about it. Because the chips are no longer inside of the crew, they can no longer be monitored. There are cameras still of course, but TOM can only monitor so much through them. The ISA is most likely aware that the crew have defected (through TOM reporting to them). Ava is the only crew member (that we know of) who still has a chip inside of her, which is most likely why she was called upon for help. This is just my theory.