The Best Arthur Claypool Quotes

Arthur: He is not deceived who knows himself to be deceived.

Harold: Now, Arthur, what was Samaritan?
Arthur: Oh, Samaritan is truly a remarkable project.
Harold: You say it is remarkable. Tell me about it.
Arthur: Its primary function is to detect potential acts of terror through analysis of large data sets. Specifically, it will have the ability to anticipate acts of aggression and suggest strategic countermeasures before the perpetrators can act.
Harold: It sounds like quite a project.
Arthur: Oh, Samaritan is revolutionary. Not so much for what it does, but how it does it. The system was designed to function autonomously, to continually adapt and upgrade itself through past experiences.
Harold: You're saying that it can remember and learn.
Arthur: Yes. Harold, it's what we always dreamed of. Samaritan is a true artificial intelligence.
Harold: You're right, Arthur. That is remarkable. Excuse me.
[Moves over to Shaw]
Sameen: Is he talking about what I think he's talking about?
Harold: It would appear so.
Sameen: But then that would mean...
Harold: That there was a second machine. And Arthur built it.

Arthur: Your machine - is it wonderful?
Harold: Wonderful... yes, and terrible. We saved good people and lost good people. In the end, I'm afraid we've only given the deck a shuffle.

Sameen: So you two know each other?
Arthur: Harold and I go all the way back to MIT.
Sameen: The mighty engineers, huh?
Arthur: You should have seen us, two young Turks at the dawn of the information age. We were gonna shape the future - remember, Harold?
Arthur: I do. Yes, but so do I.
[Notices Harold's walk]
Arthur: You're limping. Are you hurt?
Harold: No, it's just an old injury that never healed quite right.

Harold: Arthur, I need you to consider what may happen when that door opens, how Samaritan could be abused. End this. Destroy the drives.
Arthur: No. This is life... or as close as we mortals come to saying, "Let there be light."
Harold: It is extraordinary, and it is beautiful. So are mushroom clouds, in their own ways. 155 Manhattan project scientists sent a petition to President Truman begging him not to use the bomb, but they had created a demon too great to resist.
Arthur: Harold, this is knowledge. It's what we fought for. It'll just all be lost.
Harold: No, your knowledge will not be lost. Nathan and I used your ideas. We built it.
Arthur: I was right. There was another project. It was you.

Arthur: After 9/11, the government had everyone and their cat trying to build a system that could watch everything.
Harold: They came to you as well.
Arthur: Yes. I told them the only way they could achieve what they wanted was to build something that not only watched, but understood what it was watching.
Harold: An AI.
Arthur: I know you always said artificial intelligence was a fool's errand, Harold, but I was this close.
Harold: Close?
Arthur: To making Samaritan operational. Truth is, I couldn't get it to work. I mean, I could've, if those pinhead bureaucrats would have just given me a few more weeks. I know I could have cracked it.
Harold: And that's when Congress shut you down.
Arthur: Well, not just us. All the programs. Stellar Wind, Tides, Genysis, Futuremap, Genoa. Within six months, they were all gone. They came for Samaritan February 25, 2005. For fear of "Violating civil liberties," or so they said.
Harold: And you thought there was another reason.
Arthur: The government wanted a system, Harold. They weren't just going to give up. They let Congress shut us down, all except for that piece of crap Prism, but that was just to throw anyone off the scent.
Harold: Of what?
Arthur: They'd already found it. Someone else had got there first.

Arthur: I'm glad you built it, Harold. Somebody would have eventually. For all our sakes, I'm glad it was you.

Sameen: And how are you doing today, Mr. Claypool?
Arthur: I suspect more honeybee than dragonfly.
Sameen: Excuse me?
Arthur: Lifespans. Dragonfly is four months. Honeybee is four weeks.
Sameen: Well, so long as you don't go mayfly on me, we won't have a problem.

Arthur: Harold, do you recall Arise, Ye Sons Of MIT?
Harold: Oh, I...
Arthur: [Starts singing] Arise, ye sons of MIT, in loyal brotherhood the future beckons unto ye and life is full and good...
Arthur: [Harold joins in] Arise, and raise your steins on high tonight shall ever be a memory that will never die, ye sons of MIT
Sameen: John's gonna be sorry he missed that.

Arthur: Stealing a car, almost dying... it reminds me of the old days at MIT, Harold.

Arthur: You know, Harold was the most brilliant of all of us. If anyone was going to change the world, we knew it would be him. You know, what did you end up doing? What's your field of expertise?
Harold: Insurance.

Arthur: Harold. I did it. I solved it before they shut me down. Harold, Samaritan is alive.
Harold: ...Alive? It's not alive, Arthur.
Arthur: The project broke me, but humans are broken from the moment of conception. Mutations, defects - it's all so wonderful. The chance of disaster. We fail, we learn, we fail. My program was too perfect.
Harold: You're talking about evolutionary algorithms, genetic programming
Arthur: That day, Harold, I broke it. I forced it to delete bits of itself - its code, its blood - and then reboot. Rebirth Flailing in the dark. A loop, ten times a second, and after ten hours, Harold, 360,000 mutations, it would live or die trying, and it lived. It sparked. It stirred. For 30 seconds, it smiled... and then died.
Harold: And the next day the government shut you down. That's why you saved it.
Arthur: Protecting my child.

Diane: I was concerned that you might disrupt my attempts to get close to Arthur. However, you proved to be quite useful, saving him from those misguided privacy terrorists and arranging it so I could meet your employer, who I've heard so much about. By the way, I didn't catch your last name, Harold.
Harold: What is it that you want from Arthur?
Diane: Just information. The location of his greatest achievement, Samaritan.
Arthur: Samar - No. Samaritan was destroyed.
Diane: I know the official story, Arthur. I also know about the drives. So where are they?
Arthur: [Confused] I don't know what you're talking about.
Harold: All right, stop it. He's telling you the truth. He doesn't know.
Diane: I'll find out soon enough. And since you and I have had the good fortune of meeting, you can help me recover something else that belongs to me. *Your* greatest achievement.
Harold: Oh, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Diane: One of you is going to tell me what it is I want to know. And whoever does, will be the one who gets to leave here... alive.

Harold: Arthur, what Control said - now, I need you to think very hard - was it true? Did you make a backup?
Sameen: Save it, Harold. He's closed for business.
Arthur: Of course I made a backup. It's just that that woman seemed quite dangerous, so I played the tumor card. It was a ruse, remembering to forget.
Sameen: [smiles] You're growing on me, Arthur.
Arthur: Who are you?

Arthur: Your machine - is it wonderful?
Harold: Wonderful? Yes... and terrible. We saved good people and lost good people. In the end, I'm afraid we've only given the deck a shuffle.
Arthur: Everything slides toward chaos. Your creation, it brings us poor souls a cupful of order. Your child is a dancing star.
Harold: It's not my child, it's a machine.
Arthur: A false dichotomy. It's all electricity. Does it make you laugh? Does it make you weep?
Harold: Yes.
Arthur: What's more human?

Diane: I'm Diane. I'm your wife. You just don't remember.
Arthur: No. No. Uh, I don't have time for these games. I am on a deadline. I have to fix it.
Diane: Fix what?
Arthur: Samaritan.

Arthur: The government wanted an open system.
Harold: That the NSA could control targeting individuals at whim? But it's broken. So there's no reason to be scared.
Arthur: No. Harold... meet Samaritan.
[Opens his box, take out the drives, and sighs]
Arthur: AI - You always said it was impossible, and you were always right about everything.
Harold: There's something else.
[Takes out a slip of paper and reads]
Harold: "The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places".
Arthur: That's my handwriting.
Harold: It's dated February 24, 2005. What does it mean?
Arthur: I haven't the foggiest, but look at my penmanship. It's exquisite.

Arthur: [about his wife] How come I remember you and not her?
Harold: Because tumors do mysterious things to memory. It's like you said. Your file system is corrupted.
Arthur: [Shakes his head] No. That's not it. I remember Diane. Diane is dead. I buried her two years ago, on June 12, 2011.
Sameen: You do remember.
[Turns to Diane]
Diane: I suppose this was inevitable. And seeing as how time is a luxury we no longer have - Hersh.
Hersh: Perimeter is secure, ma'am.
Sameen: Ma'am? He works for you?
Diane: As did you at one time, Agent Shaw. I assume you always wanted to meet me.
Sameen: Control.

Harold: You'll be safe here while I make arrangements to get you both out of harm's way
Arthur: Harm's way? Why, are we in danger?
[Everyone looks at him]
Arthur: Oh, yes, the gun people.

Harold: These people outside - if they get your Samaritan, they will hurt it, imprison it, enslave it, and use it to enslave others. Is that the life that you would wish for your child?
Arthur: [Looks at the drives] Good-bye. I'll remember you.
[Smashes them]