Most scenes together: Major Motoko Kusanagi & Batou (3)
Chief, you've ever questioned the ethics of the neural surgeons who monkey around inside your brain?
They undergo psychiatrical evaluations, especially those in security. They're subjected to a stringent screening of their personal lifes. Of course, the ones who check are only human.
I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it.
Got him, huh? Well, the breech and the barrel really screwed up. That's what happens when you use HV bullets in one of these things. Oh yeah.
It's no use arresting me! I'm not talking to you goddamn cops!
Talk?! And just what are you going to talk about? You don't even know your own name, you stupid dickhead!
Huh?
Can you remember your mother's name or what she looks like? Or how about where you were born? Don't you have any happy childhood memories? Do you even know who you are?
Ghost-hacked humans are so pathetic, it's a shame. And this poor bastard has been hacked pretty badly.
That robot. Did we seem similar to you?
Of course not.
No, I don't mean physically.
Just what, then?
Well, I guess cyborgs like myself have a tendency to be paranoid about our origins. Sometimes I suspect I am not who I think I am, like maybe I died a long time ago and somebody took my brain and stuck it in this body. Maybe there never was a real me in the first place, and I'm completely synthetic like that thing.
You've got human brain cells in that titanium shell of yours. You're treated like other humans, so stop with the angst.
But that's just it, that's the only thing that makes me feel human. The way I'm treated. I mean, who knows what's inside our heads? Have you ever seen your own brain?
It sounds to me like you're doubting your own ghost.
What if a cyber brain could possibly generate its own ghost, create a soul all by itself? And if it did, just what would be the importance of being human then?
What the hell did you use?
Your standard issue big gun.
You talk about redefining my identity. I want a guarantee that I can still be myself.
There isn't one. Why would you wish to? All things change in a dynamic environment. Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you.
I don't understand anything anymore. Why would Project 2501 run to Section 9?
No one can be sure. But whatever the motive, or whatever's pushing him, there must surely be a reason. ... I don't know. Maybe he's got a girlfriend there he's got the hots for.
Utter nonsense.
I entered this body because I was unable to overcome Section 6's reactive barriers. However, what you are now witnessing is an action of my own free will. As a sentient life form, I hereby demand political asylum.
Is this a joke?
Ridiculous! It's programmed for self-preservation!
It can also be argued that DNA is nothing more than a program designed to preserve itself. Life has become more complex in the overwhelming sea of information. And life, when organized into species, relies upon genes to be its memory system. So man is an individual only because of his intangible memory. But memory cannot be defined, yet it defines mankind. The advent of computers and the subsequent accumulation of incalculable data has given rise to a new system of memory and thought, parallel to your own. Humanity has underestimated the consequences of computerization.
Nonsense! This babble is no proof at all that you're a living, thinking life form!
And can you offer me proof of your existence? How can you, when neither modern science nor philosophy can explain what life is?
Who the hell is this?
Even if you do have a ghost, we don't offer freedom to criminals! It's the wrong place and time to defect.
Time has been on my side, but by acquiring a body, I am now subject to the possibility of dying. Fortunately, there is no death sentence in this country.
What is it? Artificial intelligence...?
Incorrect. I am not an AI. My code name is Project 2501. I am a living, thinking entity that was created in the sea of information.
And where does the newborn go from here? The net is vast and infinite.
As revenge for the fact that two of my men were killed, I even set it up so he would shoot his own son – through a door.
Hm... pressure sensitive triggers and a gorgon mine? Or is it a dummy...? Either way, what a waste! I ought'a take it home as a souvenir.
I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it.
If we all reacted the same way, we'd be predictable, and there's always more than one way to view a situation. What's true for the group is also true for the individual. It's simple: overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death.
Jesus Christ, what a mess! You didn't have to go that far.
Just a whisper. I hear it in my ghost.
Life perpetuates itself through diversity, and this includes the ability to sacrifice itself when necessary. Cells repeat the process of degeneration and regeneration until one day they die, obliterating an entire set of memory and information. Only genes remain. Why continually repeat this cycle? Simply to survive by avoiding the weaknesses of an unchanging system.
