I Origins

---

Every living person on this planet

has their own unique pair of eyes.

Each their own universe.

My name is Dr. Ian Gray.

I'm a father, a husband...

...and I'm a scientist.

When I was a child,

I realized that...

...the camera was designed

exactly like the human eye...

...taking in light through a lens,

forming it into images.

I began taking as many pictures

of eyes as I possibly could.

I'd like to tell you the story of

the eyes that changed my world.

Remember these eyes.

Remember all the details

in these eyes.

Okay.

It started when I was a 26-year-old

Ph.D. student living in New York.

It was Halloween,

eight years ago.

You okay?

I'm watching the moon.

Can I take a picture

of your eyes?

Why?

It's just something I do.

Okay.

Yeah? I've perfected this.

Hi.

Hi.

Do you know the story

of the Phasianidae?

The... No,

what's that?

It's a bird...

...that experiences all

of time in one instant.

And she sings the song

of love and anger...

...and fear and joy

and sadness all at once.

All combined into

one magnificent sound.

Where are you from?

Another planet.

What's the bird sound like?

It sounds like this.

Lean closer.

It's more like noise.

Yeah.

And this bird...

...when she meets

the love of her life...

...is both happy and sad.

Happy because she sees that

for him is the beginning...

...and sad because she

knows it is already over.

Hey, hey,

do you wanna get a drink?

I don't drink.

Like, anything?

You're not gonna regret

this in the morning, right?

Hold your memory for a moment

With a blind hand

Write some stories

For tomorrow

Your identity confirmed.

I finished that transcription

factor program.

Last night?

No, this morning.

Because, b*tch, I don't play.

Got the input genes and then you

put your transcription factor...

Wait a minute.

You stink of vodka.

I mean, like, bad.

Like it smells bad.

Yeah, I know.

I know I reek of vodka.

Stop talking so loud.

Okay, I consolidated all of

your data into one database.

You are welcome.

You're amazing.

I hate you.

Oh, I love you,

that's why I do it.

Oh, hey, you got

a new rotating student.

First year.

- Oh, shi...

- Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Have fun babysitting, buddy.

You need gum.

You need...

to have fun babysitting.

Karen.

Hi, Ian.

Can I...

Follow me.

You're attempting to

make colorblind mice see color?

That's the idea.

But after failed experiment 352,

we'll see.

Why?

Why what?

Do so many experiments fail?

Why are you interested in making

colorblind mice see color?

Oh.

Why not?

How are you testing

that they see color?

As the new rotating

lab assistant...

...your job will be

to do very boring,

very repetitive experiments...

be a glorified

note-taker...

...and not ask me "why"

every five minutes.

Okay? Cool.

Commencing experiment 353...

...response to photo pigment

protein in Mus musculus.

The control subjects B Beta...

...G Gamma,

E Euphoria...

...P...

Psychopannychia.

I don't know what that means.

Look it up.

G as in Goodness gracious.

H as in Help me, please.

Z as in Zoolander.

Are the mice muted with

the photo pigment protein?

When we animate the lines...

...colorblind mice

stare straight.

Whereas...

...fingers crossed...

...the muted mice sh...

Track the lines with their eyes.

Holy sh*t.

Holy f***ing sh*t.

Is this on the background

of PAX6 overexpression?

You're a first year?

I know, it's surprising I

can put together a sentence.

Sorry, I asked my last three lab

assistants not to come in...

...and I'd sign

their credits.

Anyway, this is just one step in a very,

very long process.

This is a rough estimation...

...but let's just say that the human

eye has 12 working parts, right?

Simplest eye having one.

So, if we can fill in the gaps,

the evolutionary gaps...

...using single mutations...

we can map out the most

logical progression...

...of the most

basic eye...

...to the most complex,

fully formed human eye.

I don't understand,

why take the time?

We know that it evolved.

It's an assumption,

it's not a fact.

When you're

no longer a first year,

you'll see how

important facts are.

Right.

Each of these animals has an eye

that's best selected

for its environment.

It would be cleaner...

...less variables,

if you had an origin.

Go on.

You start with one...

...to get to 12.

But what if you had zero?

A non-seeing organism and built

genetically an eye from scratch...

...a zero to 12.

It'd be a perfect proof,

unassailable.

Non-seeing organisms

don't have the PAX6 gene.

How do you know?

Has anyone ever checked all of them?

I don't think anyone has ever checked...

all of them.

You've thought of this before?

Why did you look surprised?

Because so have you.

Okay.

Who were those girls?

Which girls?

The ones at the Halloween

party in the S&M outfits.

S&M outfits?

I met one of them.

Don't know her name.

I don't know her face,

but she had these

most amazing eyes.

So specific.

Central heterochromia.

Oh, reminds me.

Guess what I did?

What?

I figured out an improved

implementation technique...

...for Daugman's

biometrics algo.

You ever feel like

when you met someone,

they fill this hole

inside of you...

...and that when

they're gone

you feel that space

painfully vacant?

Are you okay, man?

Yeah, yeah.

I'm okay, are you okay?

- What did you just say?

- Did you say...

The way you talked was,

like, poetic.

- It was weird.

- Shut the f*** up.

- It was so weird, dude.

- I can't believe...

Oh, sh*t.

This guy is painfully vacant.

Ian, look at him.

He's so painfully vac...

He's so painfully vacant.

F*** off.

Can I get a pack of

Verdict and a Powerball?

How much is that?

$11. 11.

Oh.

Lucky elevens.

Thanks.

Karen.

Mmm-hmm?

What are you doing?

Five percent of all animals

don't have vision...

...and there are 8.7

million species...

So I blasted PAX6 at the database,

but nothing came up.

So I started

sequencing by myself.

How many did you sequence?

Twelve.

You've done 12.

So, how many do you have left?

Like, approximately 426,000.

Are you going to write

426,000 names on the window?

I'm going to find it before I

get to the end of the window.

Okay.

What are you doing?

I'm not doing anything.

You know we could be looking

forever and find nothing.

Turning over rocks and

finding nothing is progress.

Burning papers into ashes

What a season

How they fly high

From the ground, oh

There is yet another fountain

Flowing over

As the night falls

Keep dreaming

Away

If you hold onto that past

Don't you lock yourself inside

Nothing has been done before

So, are you gonna

tell me where you're from?

So many places, I don't know.

Which places?

Mmm...

To make it short,

I was born in Argentina...

...and when I was 11,

I moved to France with my grandmother.

And your parents?

Next.

So, what do you do?

Next.

Why did you sleep

with me that night?

Poor judgment.

I was lonely for

a long time and...

Rate this script:3.0 / 1 vote