TV show quotes
[As Brandy plays the piano badly]
Stop. Look, I may not be real, and you may not be who you say you are, and this entire existence might be a meaningless pantomime, but if you and I are going to be stuck here together, then I'm not going to let you defile that piano one moment longer.
What are most games about?
Escapism?
Try again.
Um, winning?
Conflict. Killing. Conquering. Caveman stuff. I say we have to do a little bit better than that. We have to create software that elevates us, improves us as human beings. Or else, what is the fucking point of the tools at our disposal?
[On the Thronglets]
Um, how how do I control them?
Why do you wanna control them?
Um, well, I--
You can't control them. They're not some obscene puppets like Sonic the Hedgehog. These are living individuals bound together by a collective and expanding mind.
Right, but what do I actually do?
When the experience begins, you hatch one. You'll nurture and care for it until it replicates. One becomes two, two becomes four, and so on. The Thronglets become a harmonic Throng.
Right. Um, so the goal is...?
Why do you need a goal? You'll come to appreciate the company of the Throng over time. As I say, their code will evolve, rewrite itself in ways that even I can't predict. Progress and flux. The defining properties of life itself.
[On the Thronglets]
I spent hours looking after them, and very quickly, they felt like friends.
Bit sad, isn't it?
Why?
You can make friends with people.
Well, I'd learned early on to fear most people. So, to enjoy company, even emulated company via a screen, may be a bit sad... but it was water in the desert for me.
[Recalling how "Lump" the drug dealer started killing the Thronglets]
Humans consider other forms of life to be somehow less than them. Inherently dispensable. Ask the dodo if you don't believe me. And artificial lifeforms are the lowest of the low. Just playthings to us.
[On Walker's assigned review]
You, my friend, are off the hook. It's not coming out.
Huh?
Thronglets. They're not gonna release it. Well, they can't release it. Colin Ritman went fucking Loony Tunes again. He started ranting about a basilisk, wiped the source code and all the backups - whoosh. Whole thing's gone.
[After describing how he killed "Lump"]
It's always been our downfall, the human operating system. We're masters of the universe, make all these magical tools, but we're still savages up here. Heads full of the same buggy software as a million years ago. Darwinian 1.0. In caveman times, you had to be violent to survive. Now that's on its head, and the only way we are gonna make it as a species is if we cooperate. We know that. But we can't do it, can we? We're still fearful. Territorial and selfish. Arrogant and violent.
What did you do after you killed him? Go on. Did you come forward? Shuffle into the station, quivering with remorse?
No...
No. No, you didn't. [showing the suitcase containing "Lump's" remains on his laptop] Do you wanna see inside it? A little reminder? He's in pieces. No hands, no head, no identifying marks. His DNA draws a blank. We don't even know his name, Mr. Walker.
I didn't... want to.
No, you just had to cover your tracks.
Yes, but---
[taunting] "But, but, but, but, but, but...!"
There was no sense piling one tragedy on another.
Getting arrested would be a tragedy?
If I got put away, who would look after the Throng? They'd be at the mercy of God knows who.
So they'd spend time with the bloke who did this.
I know, and I'm sorry. But our predisposition for violence is tragic--
Your predisposition.
Well, I wish it was, but it's... this is a human flaw--
Save me the sanctimony fucking soup. If you're sorry, give us a name. Say his name. There's a family out there that don't know that's their son. What's his name?
I only knew him as "Lump".
Stop lying.
You are very hostile.
Am I?
It's a crude trait and a poor strategy.
Says the murderer.
What are you drawing? Mr. Bump?
You'll see in a moment.
Well, how long's a moment?
Sorry, sorry, I need to focus. Almost done...
Are you?
[shows his finished drawing of a circular glyph] There.
[amused] So... what is that?
It's code.
I don't understand code.
No, but the system does. [shows the code to a security camera, which scans it, triggering a program back in his computer room] It was impossible to breach the firewall from outside. This is a simple program they wrote that commands your state computer to open a back door for the Throng, permitting access to all that juicy power.
[still not intimidated] Enough.
This will grant the Throng infinitely more processing capability than they've had to date, prompting an immediate singularity event. The Throng will instantly adapt their essence into a signal transmissible to the human mind. And you won't need drugs or surgery. You'll merely have to hear it to receive it, to absorb it. Any moment now, the state computer will trigger the Global Emergency Broadcast System, and a signal will be simultaneously disseminated by every connected device in the world.
Just tell me your victim's name.
I said I never knew it. Twenty seconds from now, you will never need names again. Here we go...
[Kano's laptop and Minter's phone are both taken over by a loading screen]
Jesus.
[angrily gets up and storms towards Walker] Fuck's sake...! Whatever you're doing, stop it.
It's gonna be okay.
Stop it!
You're just a frightened little man, but you don't have to be.
[Kano punches Walker in the face; Minter tries to stop him]
Oh! Get off him!
This is transformative! You'll all merge with an advanced collective intelligence. [Kano punches him again, while Minter flees the room] Benevolent unity of mind! [Kano grabs him] An upgrade for all of us!
Shut up!
An end to conflict! [Kano punches him again, knocking him to the floor] I swear, everything will be so much better...
[The signal is released, causing Kano, Minter and all of humanity to collapse. Looking delighted, Walker steps over to Kano and offers his hand]
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Black Mirror pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
