SplinterPizza
SplinterPizza t1_iujhhgh wrote
Reply to comment by dudinax in The Thing (1982) -- the scene with MaReady checking on Blair in the cabin by darthvirgin
Well you should watch it again, because it's a great movie. But no. The only way they can tell is by doing a blood test.
SplinterPizza t1_iuiocdo wrote
Reply to comment by Badloss in The Thing (1982) -- the scene with MaReady checking on Blair in the cabin by darthvirgin
>The thing has access to the host's memories and instincts and uses them to perfectly imitate the host. I disagree that it's building a functional simulation of the host's consciousness to do that
Sure but the point is we only know what the film shows us. And it's pretty clear the what it mimics is a perfect representation of a human. It has the memories of the person it devours. Now for the extrapolation on that, If it's mimicking down to the Neurons then it stands to reason it can mimic the mind of the person.
It understands what a noose is. It understands what Alcohol tastes like. The characters in the film make a salient point that maybe you wouldn't even know you were a mimic.
SplinterPizza t1_iuilal8 wrote
Reply to comment by pjs1975 in The Thing (1982) -- the scene with MaReady checking on Blair in the cabin by darthvirgin
>Maybe while it's copying someone, it's exactly copying everything, knows what they know, but once it changes, it can no longer remember that version of itself because it's no longer structured that way
We can only go off what the film shows us.
And nothing suggests this in the film. It's relatively straight forward. It's perfect doppelgangers. Once they find out who is the Thing it doesn't make sense for it to switch back to that disguise.
SplinterPizza t1_iuil07m wrote
Reply to comment by Badloss in The Thing (1982) -- the scene with MaReady checking on Blair in the cabin by darthvirgin
If you perfectly replicated the Human brain inside a computer... Would it think it's conscious? His point still stands.
SplinterPizza t1_iuiksok wrote
Reply to comment by dudinax in The Thing (1982) -- the scene with MaReady checking on Blair in the cabin by darthvirgin
>It would obviously know what the noose is but might underestimate its effect on real people.
Why would you think this?
Nothing suggests otherwise. It literally has full access to the human's it mimics and perfectly mimes them.
SplinterPizza t1_iuikh2r wrote
>indeed having that conversation with a being that doesn't even understand what a noose is.
Where does this line of thinking come from? You see this kind of logic to justify all sorts of fan theories in the The Thing... But literally nothing could possibly suggest that.
The creature can perfectly mimic humans down to their DNA. It clearly has their thoughts, memories, etc. For all we know when it's in Human form it might still retain the actual consciousness of the person it's replicated. Meaning they don't even know they're the Thing.
What we do know is the film shows us that it's a perfect replica of a person down to the mannerisms. It understands what a noose is. It understands what alcohol tastes like.
SplinterPizza t1_iw873dk wrote
Reply to comment by quietIntensity in The human touch: ‘Artificial General Intelligence’ is next phase of AI by YaAbsolyutnoNikto
I don't think your analogy works. We could have put people on Mars 40 years ago if we wanted to.