The Taoists, in pursuit of immortality, discovered gunpowder. Alfred Nobel created the Nobel Prize so he wouldn't be remembered as the man who invented dynamite. History has shown us time and time again that whenever a technological advancement can be used to hurt humanity, it will be.
Okay. So, where shall we start? I'm thinking, if we can gain acc– [Barry races around the rooms at super-speed, accessing and reading the computer files.] –ess to their files...
[reading from DeVoe's journal] Technology has become a cancerous cell in our social biology. Excising [DeVoe tries and fails to grab the journal] would require a total purge, not only of the material world, but also human consciousness? This is not valance! This is lobotomizing people.
Don't you see? Marlize, our technology is killing us! And you and I, we can fix this, together. [kneels] As partners, we can lead them, all of society, humanity, on the true path to enlightenment.
[Marlize gives DeVoe back the journal and walks out]
[scoffs] Well... it is hard... D.A. Cecile Horton, because my brain, the one thing that has defined me for, well, pretty much my entire life, is about to [snaps his fingers] ... vanish, and then what'll I be?
We've been attacking this from the wrong direction. We know we need a tech-free projectile to stop DeVoe's satellites. We've been looking for an object, when what we really need is a person: Amunet.
I know she's not the ideal choice. But Amunet's psychic-powered Alico shards are not only deadly powerful, they're completely immune to DeVoe's Kilgore powers.
Right. But to me, I wouldn't consider myself sociopathic [goes to the whiteboard] when all my actions would be driven by the one thing that I care most about, right? [draws a smiley face added to a sad face]
Did I teach you nothing this year? Has nothing pierced your thick cowl? Think of it. Or rather don't. You'll just end up hurting yourself, so let me explain. A world, enlightened. Within a day, all soldiers will lay down their arms. Every nuclear weapon will be disarmed within six months. Poverty. Famine. Disease. Eradicated. We will clean up the streets. People will put down their idiot phones and become curious again, and I will be there to teach them. I, not you, will save this God-forsaken world.
Good. You hit upon precisely the point. Emotion is the father of all error. Chemicals in our brain that distract us, impede progress. And the most destructive and ridiculous imbalance of all is that thing you feebles call love. I learned this from experience, Mr. Allen. And soon... you will too.
Yes, I left my husband. But that doesn't change the fact that he's right. If anything, his betrayal proves his very point. Man corrupts even the best of ideas.
He tried to change you, Marlize. But I think, deep down, you are still an optimist. You stillbelieve in humanity. And I believe in you. You asked me what I was willing to do for my husband. And now I'm gonna ask you... What are you willing to do for the world?
