4.05: Prophets

[J-Sun]

A political operative drops down the rabbit hole when he discovers an election has been rigged but has no idea how serious the forces behind it and against him are - and even the team may not be able to handle it unscathed.

A few minutes in I was thinking this was the best PoI ever. Maybe it's an overstatement over all, but this was a really good one. I dunno about the depiction of Harold's infanticides or something else I'm forgetting now, but this really addressed the overarching paranoia and "paradigm shift" and was really intense. And gave us plenty of quality time with Groves as well as Reese and Finch - and some Shaw, but I could have used more there.

I'm just not sure about the realization of the parameters of the War. What they can and can't do seems too arbitrary. But it's got a great vibe and I love these characters.

 

[Dave]

I don't have much to add to what you said. You didn't mention the psychologist and Reece - at first refusing to co-operate with her, and unable to lie convincingly, and then telling her about Joss Carter. It would be easy to forget Carter, but Reece hasn't and it obviously informs everything he does.

 

[ctg]

A few minutes in I was thinking this was the best PoI ever.

It was good but maybe not the best one ever. What it made it so great was that it was first time, when we saw The Machine going back the memory lane in this year, and what it showed was truly something remarkable that we had not seen previously. In fact, how we could had known that It tried to kill Harold more than a few times before the last iteration came to be? Note that I use it instead of root's she.

What bugged me in the episode was that Harold said to Root, "It's not talking to any more," when it has done more than enough of talking without using actual words. The Machine Intelligence wouldn't necessarily use language like we do, and you saw that in the previous episode where Samaritan I used pictures to hire itself an asset. In this episode you saw it using an asset to wage war against The Machine main asset (root).

I'm just not sure about the realization of the parameters of the War. What they can and can't do seems too arbitrary.

I would love to see an episode from just Machine's or Samatarian's Point of View, but I doubt it'll be easy cos we humans cannot think in same way as it does when the Ai's conduct number of things in the same time. Nevertheless, I'll expect that further we go down the road, more we will see about what they really can do when the bullets (virtual or not) really start to fly.

 

[willwallace]

An interesting idea. If they could pit the Machine against Samaritan for an episode from their viewpoints, that could be done using more of the various camera feed shots.

 

[markpud]

The machine's day 1 was fascinating stuff. Root vs [agent samaritan] was also cool. THe 2 powers going toe to toe and I'm sure there'll be more to come.

I wonder why the machine has to hide away, when as a more mature AI it should be capable of out-thinking Samaritan? Or is Sam just so overpowered and uninhibited that our Machine knows it can't win a straight fight.

Stepping back slightly from the show, I don't see why 2 such AI's couldn't/wouldn't coexist without being concerned about what the other is upto - not directly anyway. There's no reason they can't both watch and listen and select targets for assistance or elimination according to their imperatives. It seems unlikely they'd be concerned with directly attacking each other like 2 warring siblings battling for supremacy. That's a human emotional view. Would 2 AI's not "talk" to each other and reach consensus, then moving forward as one, with shared power/resource.

I'm guessing this isn't the plot of the upcoming episodes!!

 

[J-Sun]

Interesting thoughts. As much as I like the show (okay, love), I'm afraid it will opt for the dramatic over the logical in some cases. But, basically, Samaritan has been designed to be the One and has no morality beyond its imperative. There's a necessary conflict already if only from the fact that Harold and crew are threats to Samaritan and the Machine is allied to them. In other words, the targets for assistance or elimination overlap and contradict. Samaritan must kill Harold and the Machine (despite Harold telling it not to at the traffic accident early on in its life) has prioritized saving Harold. (Not to mention Groves. Which leads to the interesting thought: Groves was always pro-Machine but in a Samaritan way. The Machine "taught" Groves. Can it teach Samaritan?) Anyway - I think it certainly would have been possible to design two cooperative AIs but these weren't so designed and so do conflict.

And I do agree that the Machine is at a severe disadvantage, in most ways, just as Harold is vs. Greer.

 

[markpud]

You make good points. But how big a threat to Samaritan are Shaw and Reese really? What can they do to affect it? Finch as the machine's admin certainly knows enough to be able to alter Samaritan's programming, given the opportunity, I suppose. Root is certainly a risk given her combination of skills and (sometime) direct link to the Machine.

The opening credits have Fusco listed amongst the priority targets that are obscured from Samaritan. I wonder if that's just done for style reasons in the credits? They don't tend to do anything without reason though...

 

[J-Sun]

But how big a threat to Samaritan are Shaw and Reese really?

Well, if they hadn't been hamstrung by morality regarding the Senator and, later, with Control at the trial, they could have prevented Samaritan from ever happening or at least not exposed themselves as much. (I mean, Shaw and Reese would have been more effective regarding the Senator by themselves. And Reese is always saving Harold (and vice versa) which makes him dangerous if only by virtue of that.) And, yeah, given their knowledge, they're all a danger - I mean, I'm sure Samaritan prioritizes Harold and Groves more highly but it must eliminate the whole team.

The opening credits have Fusco listed amongst the priority targets that are obscured from Samaritan. I wonder if that's just done for style reasons in the credits? They don't tend to do anything without reason though...

Good point on that, speaking of the whole team. I hadn't realized that. I dunno.

 

[J-Sun]

The opening credits have Fusco listed amongst the priority targets that are obscured from Samaritan.

Actually, I paid particular attention tonight and Fusco is not an inverted red triangle going from Primary to irrelevant but is just a not uncommon red targeting marker which probably indicates he's receiving special attention from Samaritan but he is definitely treated differently from the rest of the gang.

 

[markpud]

I looked out for it again myself and you're right Fusco isn't a Primary target. So much for that theory!

What you say about Shaw and Reese makes sense too. Although at this point Samaritan doesn't really have a weakness that they could exploit to take it down so it doesn't have too much to worry about!

 

[Dave]

What you say about Shaw and Reese makes sense too. Although at this point Samaritan doesn't really have a weakness that they could exploit to take it down so it doesn't have too much to worry about!

Surely Samaritan would be concerned about people who drop off it's radar? Even if it didn't know what those people were doing, it would be interested in how and why they are invisible to it. I'm imagining that an intelligence used to knowing everything would need to know why there is something it doesn't know. Such a thing would be a sore that it would need to pick at and it would make it a priority to find out.