Travelling Salesman Page #5

---

Israel, Russia, England.

If history has taught us

anything, it's that

Allegiances are made

for self-Gain.

There is literally

no one you can trust.

I'm sure the trust issue

will go over well

With our allies

as we explain to them

Why we completely hacked

their communication network.

That's why we don't get caught.

Right. Look...

this is a foreign policy

discussion

None of us are prepared for,

and frankly,

We're all out of our element.

I don't know how much

that's true.

Still, as much as I thought

our project's implications

Should be discussed, the sudden

inclusion of the addendum

Is a clear breach

of the original agreement.

Listen, deception

or anything along those lines

Was never part of our goal,

and not that it matters to you,

But this issue

is not as black and white

As you're making it sound.

Three weeks after the original

arrangement was discussed,

Ghostnet penetrated

a secure norad defense system,

The contents of which

contain top-Secret nuclear data,

Including the longitudinal

coordinates

Of every major missile battery

on the east coast.

Four months after that,

U.S. Army call sign

database was hit.

That's information contained

on such a need-To-Know basis

That it's generally accepted

that the president

Doesn't need to know.

Well, maybe you

should have hired us

To secure

those particular systems.

In a way, we did.

My superiors and I find

a certain nobility

In your accomplishments.

Motives aside, you were

hired to do something

That godel, von Neumann,

Everyone deemed impossible.

Yet you did it

for your country.

Nobody's denying

that there's something noble

About the true pursuit

of knowledge

Or national pride, whatever.

But right now, I have

the sinking feeling

That all that's being lost.

I merely did as asked.

Yeah, so did the guards

at Auschwitz.

You can go to hell

for saying that.

Godwin's law strikes again.

And in terms of

any contractual obligation

For present or future work,

as far as I'm concerned,

The inclusion of this addendum

is a clear breach of contract.

Well, I guess, in that case,

the U.S. Government

Can just rip up your paychecks

and cancel the annuities.

What are you gonna do, sue us?

Maybe.

Come on, this is not a burden.

You serve at the pleasure

of the president.

This is your patriotic duty,

done immaculately well,

In an increasingly aggressive

world, okay?

You... You speak to us

like we're lockheed

And we just developed

some fancy drone airplane

That may or may not ever work.

In a way, yes.

We look at your system

as a national asset.

You are so stupid.

Don't you condescend to me.

I am not here to be ridiculed.

- Cooler heads, guys.

- No, you're here to...

To make sure we're happy.

You're a tire salesman.

I will entertain

a civil discussion, yes,

But I'm not going to sit here

and be attacked.

- Yes, you will.

- Excuse me?

It's your job to sit here.

You've been ordered to.

Though power may lie here,

Ultimately, it's the four of us

That must accept this fate,

not force-Fed.

Truly, if this

is a patriotic duty,

As you're suggesting,

We could quite simply

conquer, destroy,

Eradicate, and any other

destructive verb

You can think of,

without reprisal,

Without mercy,

without consequence.

Surely some duty ought

to be paid to that reality.

That's only the beginning.

There's a war

being waged in cyberspace,

Whether anyone

wants to admit it or not.

And for reasons

of economies of scale,

The united states and its allies

are dramatically behind.

Each week, the NSA estimates

that 233 computers

In the district

are compromised,

Many of them

in classified facilities.

There is such an awareness

of cyber espionage

That the majority

of NSA correspondences

Have reverted to handwritten

pieces of paper

That are either

burned after reading

Or locked away.

Do you have any idea

The quantity of top-Secret

correspondences that

Are hand-Delivered

by trusted couriers each year?

It's staggering.

This is the future

of the world.

This is now.

This is bigger

than your secrets.

As an American, I don't know

how anyone could say that.

As a mathematician,

it's my conscience to say that.

Then why don't you break it

down for me a little slower,

So I can understand.

Hardy called mathematics

the language of the gods

Because it, uh, it unlocks

and categorizes things

That the mind

can't possibly understand.

I-I don't expect you to

at this point.

But there are certain

foundational proofs, okay,

That lead

to more powerful conclusions.

To lock this away so you

can spy on somebody is criminal.

Oh, that is so ignorant

and condescending

It makes me want to spit.

This was the most important

unsolved problem

In computer science.

To think you were the only

mathematicians in the world

Focusing your efforts on this

is naive.

You're pawns, automatons.

We funded you.

We brought you together.

You were denied nothing.

Thought was fostered,

And, ultimately,

a solution was achieved.

You were a piece of the puzzle.

A cog.

Separately, you're nothing.

You were the people

we mocked growing up.

But collectively,

you have altered world history

And put the proper power

in the proper hands.

But don't forget your origin.

You were made.

A soldered link

in a greater chain reaction.

9, 10, 11, 12,

13, 14, 15,

16, 17, 18, 19...

come in.

22, 23...

Dr. Horton.

Oh.

Come on.

Okay.

Uh, it's a nice effort,

But let's focus more

on simplifying the algorithms

Before drawing the conclusions.

You know, I can take care

of those inquiries for you.

Yeah, well...

you know, I hate the ivory tower

we've got here.

I don't think Dr. Hawking's

had a conversation

With a student in,

like, 25 years.

Well, I think the voice machine

Might have been

a slight impediment.

Though it is a hit

At the staff meetings.

Did you know, I found out

that when Isaac Newton

Was a fellow at trinity,

He was in the office

right next door?

- Really?

- Yes.

Hugh, what would you think

If there were an algorithm

that could prove itself,

Like an automated proof solver.

In other words, every time

it found a solution,

It also found another problem...

A new problem.

It would solve one

and then the next,

And then the next and...

it could iterate ad infinitum.

- What would I think?

- Yeah.

Well...

since I'm assuming

you're talking about something

Well beyond

the Pythagorean theorem here,

I would say it's, uh,

A system that

provides solutions

Without ever concluding.

You know, always posing

the question, "what's next?"

Almost like a computer worm.

Yes, but bigger, you know?

I'm thinking more generalized.

Like, uh...

well, it'll solve any problem,

Not just problems

it knows about.

Anything it encounters.

That's impossible.

I mean, that's

practically impossible,

Even in an applied sense.

Solving one problem

would just take forever.

It's np-Complete.

Well, let's pretend that, uh,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes