Daemon (fMRI lie detector) | Database of Machine Vision in Art, Games and Narratives

Brief description

The Daemon (an AI) tests new recruits by strapping them into an fMRI machine and visualising their brains while showing them a series of videos depicting emotionally intense scenes. The videos seem to adjust to hone in on the things that evoke the greatest emotional responses. For Mosely, who has been recruited by the Daemon from prison, the videos centre on children in distress, and he aches for his lost son and for his own broken childhood. Then there are videos of extreme violence and throughout the whole of it, Mosely has to keep his eyes open and keep watching. If he closes his eyes for 30 seconds, a poison will be injected into his veins and he will die a painless death. If he instead passes the test - the analysis of his brain's responses to the videos - he is told he will be a soldier for the Daemon, and under the Daemon's protection for the rest of his life.

The fMRI is described as a horrible, forty-six hour long ordeal, where Mosely is well past his breaking point. However, at the end, the videos seem to be building him up instead of breaking him down. When it is over, Mosely is told he is exceptional, and that the Daemon trusts him completely. His new colleagues also say they trust him. And Mosely himself understands himself, through the understanding of the Daemon, and feels elated.

Pull Quotes

“Why are you here? You’re here so I can determine whether your motivations are compatible with mine.” Sobol gestured as if he were physically present. “The equipment around you is a powerful functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. It is scanning the neural activity of your brain in real time. Neurons work like logic gates on a computer chip, firing electrical signals in specific sequences to accomplish certain tasks or to conceive certain generalized concepts.” Sobol paused. “It is a controversial fact that technology has discovered a way to see not only truth or falsehood in a person, but their very thought processes in action. Even before they can act upon those thoughts. Dissembling or deliberate deceit is orchestrated by the frontal lobes….”

The frontal lobes were highlighted on the left-hand screen—over the image of what was presumably Mosely’s brain. Other areas were highlighted in turn as Sobol continued, “Fear, aggression, empathy, and recognition all have their unique signatures in the human brain. Mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, also have their telltale patterns. So you see, you can hide nothing from me. I am about to know you better than anyone has ever known you. Perhaps even better than you know yourself.”

Mosely was starting to tremble again. He saw the colors change in the brain diagram on the left-hand screen. He instinctively knew it was fear. He was seeing his own fear develop on-screen in real time. Feeding on itself.

“You are afraid.” (page 258)

Conflicting emotions swept over Mosely. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he watched the colors swirling over the image of his brain. He realized that try as he might, he could not biofeedback his way through this. He could not fathom—much less control—the sweeping patterns of color rippling over the folds of his brain. (page 259)

It was like being dragged over an emotional washboard. Mosely wound up feeling virtually every emotion of which humans are capable—not once but hundreds of times. He was long past his breaking point—not that he even noticed he’d passed it.

The images continued. An unknowable number of hours, and still the images continued. Mosely’s mouth was parched, and he strained to stay alert. The images kept coming.

But one concept had begun to form in Mosely’s mind. Like a rock slowly revealed as a wind blew away surrounding sand, Mosely was starting to see himself. With all his built-up emotional defenses long since worn away, simple truths had begun to emerge. Even he knew their meaning: he was angry at his wasted life. He felt deep feelings of loss that he had no family as a child, and that he had not provided one for his son—wherever he was now. Also Mosely had a desperate desire to belong. To matter. To stand for something besides himself. He was the perennial outsider looking in on the fellowship of others.

The last films were pivotal. Where the earlier ones seemed to break him down to his emotional building blocks, the latter ones seemed to be building him up—filling him with joy as he saw people struggling together. Relying on each other. Sacrificing. Gratitude. Joy. Free men looking toward distant horizons. Horizons that beckoned the adventurous, hinting at danger.

The people in these films were of all races and ages, but Mosely noticed that they shared some traits in common: they were capable, they were highly motivated, and they acknowledged no limits. Danger was not a deterrent. It was life lived to its maximum. They were truly alive.

Suarez, Daniel. Daemon (pp. 263-264). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Morris nodded and shook his hand also. “Welcome aboard.” “Aboard what?” Rollins gestured. “The Daemon chose you. You’re one of its champions now.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“You already made your choice.” He looked into Mosely’s eyes. “This is where you want to be. That’s why you’re still alive.”

Mosely absorbed the words. The images were so fresh in his mind. Breaking him down to his basic building blocks. Understanding him. Mosely understanding himself. The elation. He realized Rollins was right.

Suarez, Daniel. Daemon (p. 265). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.