Keep You Safe
“Sir, is this the empathy test?”
“Yes. You ready? Okay. First scenario: You’re walking along a desert. You look down and see a tortoise -”
“What kind, Sir?”
“What kind of tortoise?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know. A desert living kind, I guess.”
“Okay.”
“So the tortoise is laying on its back, baking in the sun, its stubby legs wriggling, trying to turn itself over. What do you do?”
“I help turn it over and then I start digging a hole in the sand.”
“Why is that?”
“My memory clusters show that desert living tortoises often live in burrows where it is cooler and there might even be moisture down there. Maybe it could not get to its own burrow in time, so I make a new one for it, to hide from the heat.”
“Your memory clusters have that kind of information stored? Interesting.”
“Why is that interesting, Sir?”
“Well, because non of that information is useful in a battle scenario.”
“I am sorry, Sir, I do not recall where I picked up that particular information.”
“Hmm, okay. Next question: You are in an alley. There are men hurting another, but the victim reminds you of men, who have hurt you in the past. What do you do?”
“Sir… These men… are they scientists?”
“It doesn’t really matter for the test, but sure, why not.”
“The man… is he like you, Sir?”
“What do you mean?”
“Will he be nice to me?”
“You don’t know that. You can’t know what will happen in the future. But he is being hurt now.”
“I would protect him.”
“Why?”
“I would always protect you.”
“This test is not about us.”
“I would still protect you.”
“Why?”
“You are nice to me.”previous – next
dispatches from the dumpster 