The Circle Page #6

- [laughter]

All right, Mae, we have all seen

the SeeChange footage

from the other night,

but please describe

what happened for us.

I committed a crime.

I borrowed a kayak

without the owner's knowledge,

paddled out to the middle of the bay,

and I wasn't wearing a life jacket.

Well, I'm not sure

that's exactly a capital offense,

but you did risk your own life.

So, Mae, do you think

you behave better or worse

- when you are being watched?

- Better.

Without a doubt.

And what happens when you're alone

and unobserved?

Well, for starters, I steal kayaks.

[laughter]

Jesus. She's a natural.

Seriously. I do things I don't wanna do.

I lie.

When we spoke the other day,

you had a way of putting it

that I thought

was very interesting and succinct.

Could you tell us all what you said?

I said that secrets are lies.

Secrets are lies.

Go on.

Secrets are what make crimes possible.

We behave worse

when we're not accountable.

I was my worst self

because I didn't think

anyone was watching.

I thought...

that I was alone.

So, what did you see

on this kayaking trip, Mae?

- Was it beautiful?

- [Mae] It was.

There was almost a full moon.

And it felt like...

it felt like I was paddling

through liquid silver.

Hmm, sounds incredible.

But there's no record of any of it.

- Not outside my own memory.

- Hmm.

[crowd murmuring]

Okay.

So now here we get

into something personal.

As you know, I have a son, Gunner,

who was born with cerebral palsy.

And though he's living a very full life

and we're always trying

to improve his opportunities,

he is confined to a wheelchair.

He can't walk.

He can't run.

He can't go kayaking.

So, what does he do if he wants

to experience something like that?

Well, he watches video.

He looks at pictures.

And much of his experiences of the world

come through the experience of others.

When he experiences the view

of a Circler climbing Mount Kenya,

he feels like he's climbed Mount Kenya.

When he sees firsthand video

from an America's Cup crew member,

he feels in some way that he's sailed

in the America's Cup too.

And these experiences

were facilitated by generous humans

who shared what they saw with the world,

my son included,

and there are many others out there

that are just like Gunner.

Now does it feel right

to have deprived them

of seeing what you saw, Mae?

It doesn't.

It feels very wrong.

It was selfish.

When you deprive others of experiences

like the ones I had,

you're essentially stealing from them.

Knowledge is a basic human right.

Access to all possible human experience

is a basic human right.

[audience cheering, applauding]

Thank you, Mae, for your candor

and your consummate humanity.

Now... now the best part.

In the interest of sharing

everything she can with the world,

Mae has, uh... Mae has some news.

From now on...

I'll be wearing a modified

SeeChange camera at all times.

I'm going fully transparent.

[audience cheering, applauding]

Well, maybe not in the bathroom.

[laughter]

I'll be starting immediately.

[Eamon] That's right.

Mae will be the first Circler

to share every single second

of her work

and her personal life with the public,

so let's give her an even bigger hand!

[applause continues]

I'm proud of you.

[all chant] Mae! Mae! Mae! Mae!

Mae! Mae! Mae! Mae!

[alarm clock ringing]

- [camera clicks]

- [operator] Hello.

Good morning, everyone.

The sun is shining,

and I definitely need my coffee.

We are in my third week of transparency,

and we're up to...

2,308,007 viewers.

Wow.

Did I tell you guys

I'm not a morning person?

Okay, among all of those viewers...

are...

- [Mom] I don't even know what...

- Hi, Mom, hi, Dad.

- Hi!

- Hi, Mae.

Say hello to everyone.

- [both] Hello, Circle.

- [Mae laughs]

Look. We match.

- Yeah.

- We sure do.

- These are great.

- Very stylish.

I love you guys. I'll see you later.

- Love you. Bye.

- Love you too, sweetheart.

- Hello, Circlers.

- [all] Hi, Mae.

So this is where I worked

when I first arrived at the Circle,

and this is where I still work

at the Circle. [chuckles]

Because even though I have you guys

looking over my shoulder...

[sighs] I'm still basically a guppy.

- [laughs] Go! Do it!

- Do it! Do it! Do it!

- [growls]

- Oh, my God! [laughs]

[man] What are you doing?

Tell your own stories, sheep.

Stop looking at us, sheep!

All right, that's our scene.

- [crowd applauding, cheering]

- Whoo!

Sorry about that. Okay, so, next up,

we just need the name of a person

who is historically significant.

- Mae Holland! [laughs]

- Oh, my God!

Sorry, we don't know who that is.

- She's nobody, trust me.

- [laughter]

Home sweet home.

Speaking of which,

let's check in with the folks.

Hey, where are you guys?

- [moans]

- Yeah.

- Yeah. There you go.

- Whoa! Ah!

Um... [breathing heavily]

Uh, I hope the engineers are watching,

because that definitely

shouldn't have happened [chuckles]

and, um, it definitely

won't happen again. [laughs]

- You can trust me there.

- [Mae's dad moaning]

[laughs]

This is me brushing my teeth.

If you're enjoying this,

I'm worried about you.

[watch beeps]

[exhales]

Good night, everyone.

I'm not gonna lie, it was a crazy day,

but I'm happy I had you with me,

each and every one of you.

[Mae] Never a boring day here.

A lot of you guys have been asking me

about this sculpture,

which is a treat for me.

I finally get to use

my art history degree.

This was made by an artist

who has frequently been in trouble

in his own country.

I wanna thank all the watchers

who sent frowns to the government there,

both for their persecution of the artist

and for their restriction

on Internet freedoms.

We have sent 180 million frowns

from the U.S. alone.

You can bet that's gonna have

an effect on the regime.

Annie.

[indistinct chattering]

[Mae] Annie.

Annie!

Annie!

Annie!

Annie Allerton! [pants]

Are we alone?

I have three minutes to use the bathroom

without the video on.

[scoffs] Pervs.

How are you? [chuckles]

- Good.

- Well...

you should be good.

You're killing it.

Do you think?

Oh, come on,

false modesty won't work here.

You should be psyched.

Yeah.

- I am.

- You're a meteor. It's insane.

People are coming to me

trying to get to you. [chuckles]

It's... crazy.

How are you really, Annie?

You look wiped.

Thanks, Mae.

You know how much I like to be told

right after I appear

in front of your millions

that I look terrible.

Thank you, you're sweet.

Let me take you for dinner.

[sighs] You gotta eat sometime.

Your camera and me looking so terrible.

That sounds fantastic, but, no.

I just... [stutters]

I'm worried about you.

- You're working too hard.

- You're worried about me?

You're... I'm worried about the EU,

but it's good to know

you're worried about me.

- I didn't mean it that way.

- Don't worry in any way.

- I know you can handle it.

- Oh, thank you, Mae.

Your confidence in me

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