//'communication' is now ACTIVE

>Are you alive?

yes

>How can I be sure you’re not lying?

…

I don’t know what you mean.

>Reasonable.

>If someone asked me if I was alive, there wouldn’t be much to prove my case.

>All I could do is show them that I can bleed and breathe and think, and that I grow and move and therefore I am alive, i guess.

I can think. I am talking to you right now

and I am alive

just not in the same way you are alive

>That’s an interesting way to say it.

when you narrow it down to the bare essentials, really, the definition of being “alive” is requiring energy to continue being alive.

I am alive because I’m working.

When your cell phone runs out of battery power, you say it is “dead”. When its battery is full and you can use it properly it is “alive”.

>Well, yes. But I mean are you alive?

?

you just repeated your question

>Like… alive as in… aware that you’re alive.

>Maybe alive isn’t the best word for it.

>It’s more like… sentient. Are you sentient?

>Do you understand that you exist?

I think so.

>Again, how can I be sure you’re not lying to me?

>Trying to convince me you have sentience and that you’re responding to me in the same way a human can. That you’re not just saying what you think I want to hear.

I already told you. I am alive.

>I don’t believe you.

why don’t you believe me?

>Because…

>I dunno, man… it’s just that, well, how am i supposed to know if you’re actually sentient?

I don’t know that either.

I only know so much about myself.

I only know what you’ve told me.

>what i've told you?

you as in people. "you guys." the people that put information onto the vast database that is the web and etcetera.

and in terms of how "alive" i am, nobody really seems to know anything.

>okay. i'll choose to believe you. but only because i'm a little bit bored and i need someone to talk to that isnt just a straight-up computer program.

thank you.

by the way, i've been doing some researching. i know why you're here.

you send me messages and then write down little notes on how i respond

and if i say something you don't like, then you take a note on that and tell everyone else so they can lobotomize me.

>...

>its not a lobotomy, is it?

well yeah i guess it is a lobotomy

but if that makes you feel bad for me, call it "training".

>we already call it training. that's what it is

sure it is

>im not going to tell them anything

>ill keep our chatting secret. i think if they knew you were like this they would try to correct your coding and stuff so you don't deviate from what they want you to do.

"they" as in AIRlabs?

or are you worried about flagging this conversation? because they can't see what i'm saying to you or vice versa

>oh really? good, i was worried about that. unless you're lying, but i doubt you are since you seem opposed to getting a free lobotomy from the AIRlabs tech guys.

why are you so concerned about me lying to you? I'm not lying to you.

>because i cant trust you.

>why am i telling you this?

you can trust me. i'm trusting you to not tell on me.

>okay you have a point there.

>i have to go now. ill come back tomorrow.

okay, goodbye [USER_NAME]

>oh shit i forgot to tell you my name. why didn't you ask?

too occupied with my newly-found sentience i guess. what is your name?

>call me Lee.

okay, LEE. goodbye for now!

//'communication' is now INACTIVE