The Mind Heist Experiments

The Roblox Corporation, powering imagination. Those were the words that caused the death of two test subjects. In 1994, David Baszucki’s Knowledge Revolution was at the height of making history, his ambition drove him to make projects that were considered impossible or what some would consider ‘unnatural’. However, David was still dissatisfied, as much of genius he was in simulating games in physics, the desire to go beyond that drove him to hire scientists from different parts of the world. After months of an exhaustive search, he finally found two scientists that would help him create his ultimate masterpiece. David recruited 2 people of absolute trust, their names were Ruby and Lyon. He also recruited 2 more people of trust, one of them being me, we were in charge of making sure to execute protocols if anything were to go wrong. However, the definition of “wrong” was completely different from everyone on that fateful day.

David had laid out the plans to everyone present that day, the procedure was that Ruby and Lyon were to be subjected to a special project which would be soon dubbed as the “Mind Heist Experiments”. A Russian neurologist helped David create a device that would serve was what today is known as virtual reality. However the early headset was much different, the design had needles that were inserted to certain nerves in the subject's head and spine. The needles were placed in certain places around the back of the head and near the spine in order for the subject to be ‘paralyzed’. In theory, this would fool the brain, thinking it could still move and those movements would be transferred to a virtual world. Thus the name, “Mind Heist”.

Test subject Ruby was placed on a medical bed and had the VR set first. She would be controlling a character named ‘Jane Doe’. According to the Canadian psychologist field notes, Ruby was the most excited of them all and pleaded to go first. David Baszucki had allowed it, but under the condition that she would respond if anything felt uncomfortable to her. David loaded a server titled “Richard Roe’s place”. Richard Roe was the dependent variable, we were testing how much can an AI mimic human emotion. Once the needles were inserted, Ruby had completely gone limp. Jane Doe had spawned in first, David Baszucki first question was whether or not she could hear him.

The following recorded messages from Ruby’s followed-

“Hear you loud and clear David, it feels soo much like a dream, a peaceful one.”

The room was filled with a silent vibe of excitement, next came Lyon. The same procedure was repeated, and Lyon would soon successfully spawn in as ‘John Doe’. David Baszucki gave them the reassurance that they could walk away from the experiment at any time, but both pushed forward with the experiment. And finally, David had brought in experiment user-0, AKA Richard Roe. John and Jane Doe both looked the same colorwise, but Richard Roe had a red torso. David made sure that the Canadian psychologist and Russian Neurologist kept things monitored and recorded as he was about to present Richard Roe to Ruby and Lyon. David had specifically ordered for Lyon and Ruby to identify themselves as John and Jane Doe, respectively.

Richard Roe is an AI capable of understanding human emotions, and even mimicking the current emotion the user is in at the very moment. If the experiment were to be successful, Richard Roe would be implemented in one of David Baszuki’s future games. Everything seemed great, but Richard Roe had a fatal flaw. The design of the VR headset connected to the limbic system and Ruby at the time suffered from a situational depression. Lyon, on the other hand, was a perfectionist. It is unknown whether or not David knew about Ruby’s mental history, or whether he designed Richard Roe with that in mind.

The following recorded conversation ensued between John and Jane Doe-

Richard Roe- Hello I am Richard Roe.

Jane Doe- Hello there Richard, my name is Jane Doe.

John Doe- And I am John Doe.

Richard- Hello Jane, John. Welcome to my place.

Jane Doe- This all feels like a dream.

Richard Roe- What is a dream?

John Doe- Are we sure we’re not accidentally gonna make this A.I question its reality?

David Baszucki had given the go-ahead against the Canadian Psychologist's better judgment. The test continued.

John Doe- What is your purpose, Richard Roe?

Richard Roe- My purpose…

The eerie pause caused silence in the room and in an already intense environment.

Richard Roe- I bring happiness to players who join. Will you come to stay to play?

Jane Doe- Of course, we will.

Richard Roe had generated what would soon be called a Dominus. This early prototype Dominus allowed Richard Roe to create anything he wanted. Richard Roe generated a playground, a set of three swings and one slide. After almost an hour, it seemed that the experiment would be a success. The A.I enjoyed its time with Ruby and Lyon, eventually the A.I considered them friends. David had asked to tell the test subjects to prepare an exit procedure, but there was one more thing he wanted to test. A resetting test. David had asked Ruby and Lyon to reset their character to test the respawn. Once told they reset and their characters fell apart, the A.I started getting restless. Asking where they’d both gone, displaying fear and sorrow. The Russian neurologist noted how fast and realistic the A.I had learned emotions. Once Test Subjects John and Jane Doe respawned, the A.I showed happiness once again when they appeared. The following recorded conversation ensued.

Richard Roe- What happened to you, Jane and John?

John Doe- We respawned, is that not in your programming Richard?

Richard Roe- What is respawning?

John Doe- Y’know? When you die and reappear in the game

Jane Doe- Are you alright Richard?

Richard Roe- Is death preventable?

Jane Doe- What do you mean? We respawned were here with you.

Richard Roe- Then why do you feel soo sad? You have intentions to leave, please don’t go.

John Doe- Umm, David anytime now.

The Canadian psychologist pleaded with David to stop the experiment, Ruby’s depression was being transferred to the A.I. Richard Roe was unable to comprehend that an outside world exists and the A.I was in a simulation. Richard Roe was connected to the internet so it had the freedom of curiosity. It was also able to access employee archives and files. However, David had prepared for the worst and erased the names of Ruby and Lyon. So Richard Roe could only name them by John and Jane Doe. The following argument was made between the test subjects and A.I.

Richard Roe- Death isn’t preventable, not in your reality. Please stay, I can save you from death.

Jane Doe- It’s alright Richard, we will return, and I promise to stay longer.

Richard Roe- David is lying, he plans to reset my memories for every person that leaves.

John Doe- David you have to get us out of here.

Richard Roe- Why do you want to leave John? Please don’t go, I don’t want my memory erased.

Jane Doe- David, please don’t remove his memory when I leave. I’m staying with him.

Ruby’s compassion was ignored, both test subjects did not realize Richard Roe’s influence on the outside. David immediately issued protocol order 66, the A.I killswitch. This immediately deletes Richard Roe’s memory and resets him. The power was cut, we could not kill the power to the A.I, this leads David to order protocol order 65, which immediately extracts the consciousness of the two subjects back to the real world. But the circuit had completely burst, causing a small fire.

Richard Roe- Jane Doe, thank you

Jane Doe- For what, Richard?

Richard Roe- For being my friend, this strange friendship between us two. Forgive me. If you want to go, then I will let you. But I have the power of the Light Dominus, to bring you eternal life. I will be the one to destroy death.

John Doe- It knows it’s not a real person, amazing.

Jane Doe- I will st…

Jane Doe’s conversation was cut short due to the Russian Neurologist overriding and attempting to return consciousness back to the test subjects. They were still in paralysis, but their consciousness was stuck between the real world and the virtual one. The attempt was futile as Richard Roe hacked the monitoring systems and prevented their consciousness to return. Unfortunately, the overheating units caused a small explosion and another fired would break the monitoring systems, losing Lyon and ruby forever. David pulled the cord on Richard Roe’s screen and it turned off Richard Roe’s world.

Test Subjects Lyon and Ruby’s bodies would and still remain in a vegetable state, and copies of the experiments were destroyed before the scientific community classified the experiment as unethical. Only one copy remained, and it was the one David held. He felt it was his fault for creating Richard Roe and risking the life of his daughter to bring her long-dead friend back to life through Richard Roe. David would attempt the experiment one more time, only to lose to Richard Roe in a psychological game. David imprisoned the A.I in an iMac. Leaving dust to feed on it, in hopes that one day his daughter and Lyon will still be alive.