Now let's rewind a few days…
In a stylish apartment in Old Town, Ethan Black stands gazing at the map of integrated circuits hanging on the wall, which is filled with red arrows converging on a blue dot.
Something is wrong… but he can't focus his mind, especially with the craving for tobacco tearing at his nerves… But four days ago, he swore he wouldn't touch another cigarette...
And now the fifth day begins... and the clock is weighing on his chest...
He took a few mint tablets, then gulped down a glass of cold water to soothe that burning, nagging sensation in his throat...
Something is wrong...
***
His name is Ethan Black... He's in his forties...
He's as handsome as a shiny new car that's only been on the road for a day...
It's easy to mistake him for an actor or a model...
And don't even think that this handsome head houses a genius's brain...
Geniuses—as comic books have taught us—have nothing to do with beauty...
And the shape of the head is a sure sign of its being brimming with ideas...
But Ethan Black broke that rule long ago...
He was told in college that he was that "prodigy"...
But in some indescribable way...
His father swore to this... while Ethan Black smashed the hinge... broke the fan...
And the father proudly asserted:
"Vandalism is a sign of a child's genius. That's what Dr. Spock confirms in his book. I've read every line of it!"
And the days passed...
Like all those born under the sign of Gemini, Ethan Black tried everything...
He tried writing poetry... and traveling by hitchhiking...
And he entered the wrestling ring... but—like all Gemini—he didn't excel at anything...
***
At the age of sixteen, he enrolled at the American University to study that particular field (computer science)...
And this was the wizard's wand that touched him, suddenly transporting him to another world...
A world where he turned away from drinking... and from sleep... and plunged into the depths of a sweet addiction to this terrifying invention...
He had found his lost love. He journeyed through countless stories, delving deeper into the study of computers and the awe-inspiring impact of those who taught him there.
He drew close to them, then became like them, and eventually surpassed them in many fields.
And when he finally returned to his town, all the doors of opportunity were open to him...
He managed to join one of the major computer companies... and his salary was generous...
All that remained for him was to consider marrying Emma Stone, his old college classmate...
He also had no trouble
divorcing her after two years, because she couldn't take it anymore:
"You're a selfish person, unfit to be a husband or a father or even a building superintendent… You have no regard for others…
You're immersed in your own world day and night… so you no longer have room for a
crazy woman who thought she could build a family with you!
***
And when she left—at last—he sat for five hours in front of the
computer screen, trying to change the password he'd set for the
floppy disk… And when he finally succeeded, he poured himself a cup of
coffee and sat sipping it in front of the screen… and muttered:
"Well, I'm alone now. Finally, I'm alone!" "
No one will ask him anymore to visit relatives, or buy
groceries, or pay the elecactricity bill, or take him to
the dentist, or
he is completely alone today... And if he starves to death, or is electrocuted,
or the water heater explodes on him, no one will know,
except when the neighbors smell a foul odor coming from his apartment.
Then Lieutenant (So-and-so) and Colonel (So-and-so) will come
to smash down the apartment door and drag out his corpse! ..
Praise be to God, the Almighty!
***
At first it was a thought... then it became a possibility...
And on paper, he managed to sketch dozens of sketches
for his crazy idea, which began to haunt him day and night
and rob him of the pleasure of sleep.
Why not film dreams?! ...
He didn't dare tell anyone about it, but he embraced
the idea… he knew he was capable of carrying it out…
One of his friends had become a professor of physiology
at the University of (…), so he went to him for advice…
Dreams are merely faint electrical impulses traveling through the brain
from one cell to another. So why couldn't they be captured and interpreted?
The idea itself was a grand dream, but one that could be realized.
The doctor told him about the British magician who would
visualize an image and hold the camera lens until,
when he felt the image was clear, he pressed the shutter.
Then his visions would be imprinted on the film.
He said to his friend as he twirled his mustache, as was his habit when
he was thinking:
"Maybe he wasn't a charlatan… but—even if that's true—
his method relies on extraordinary psychic abilities that aren't available
to everyone… and I'm looking for a (popular) method that suits every
person…"
- Then you must study the electroencephalogram
carefully... It picks up faint electrical impulses and converts them
into waves that can be plotted on paper.
- Study it..? ..
No, I'll do even more than that… I'll buy one for myself..!
***
There were many failures…
He wasn't an expert in electronics… He's a professor of
computer programming, but that's completely different from studying
circuits and connections… That science called "hardware"...
The difference between the science of programming ("software") and the science
of "hardware" is the same as the difference between studying
psychology and studying brain anatomy...
It required an indescribable amount of effort from him, and many
cups of coffee...
But hard work always pays off...
And he thanked God profusely that his wife had left him... for she
could never have endured all that excessive focus, and the tobacco smoke everywhere...
She would have demanded things, and more things, and he lacks
any emotional bandwidth at the moment.
***
To begin with, he converted a number of photographs
into digital images (on the computer), suitable entering mind... that this was easy... and involved using a device
called a "digitizer"... a device available to everyone...
But (Ethan) carefully studied how this device works;
to understand how a few electrical impulses are converted into an image on
a (computer) screen...
Then he devoted himself to studying the electroencephalograph;
to understand how it converts abstract thoughts into electrical impulses...
With the help of an electronics engineer, he managed to build
a circuit capable of transmitting the signals from the
electroencephalograph to the digitizer, while modifying
the latter's circuitry to send digital data to the
computer, allowing it to generate an image...
How many failed attempts he went through...
And how many frustrations he endured...!
Filtering the brain waves associated with imagination was an
impossible task, but he noticed that they had a specific frequency that could be measured,
allowing him to exclude frequencies below and above it, thereby filtering them
and transmitting the necessary data to the computer...
Then the computer had to reformat these impulses
into a clearly defined image... and even a moving one....
On the appointed day, Ethan sat down in a comfortable chair, attached the electrodes to his brain, then pressed the button on the
brain-scanning device and began to focus his mind on a specific, fixed image...
The image he had chosen was his mother's face, wavering between
a frown and a smile ...
And before his astonished eyes, he saw the image slowly take shape
on the computer screen...!
Flickering, yes... truly full of scratches... it had barely appeared
when it began to fade because his mind stopped focusing as he watched
the screen!
But he did it...! He did it...!
He took off the headphones and began dancing around the room, trampling
the potted plants... scattering the cups and throwing the ashtray
onto the floor
He did it! ..
And the days pass
***
And (Ethan) grows more proficient at his work
He connected the (VCR) to the (computer)
to record what he sees...
Then he began to concentrate for several minutes...
In the end, he had a five-minute reel,
depicting a mythical beast that had emerged from the water to devour
a ship.
In the days that followed, he set about creating full-length films with dialogue
and plot... films without actors, directors, or cinematographers
Films born from his own mind alone...
Sometimes—and this is true—the image would shake... and the
hero's face would change several times in the same minute... and the
edges of the scene would be blurry and unclear... but the problem
is one of focus...
The more he focused, the clearer the scene became... and the more
he focused, the more the image scattered and its features faded
— "My dear (Ethan)!" — he said to himself — "You
are a genius... you can produce enough movies to fill
a video library without the production costing you a single penny!" "
He had started selling fantasy... and found it profitable... but
***
But geniuses are never satisfied
and (Ethan) was a genius—at least to us
That's why he was never satisfied with what he had achieved
His invention is truly strange and entertaining... but it has no
economic value...
It's hard to find the focus needed to make feature-length
narrative films, and if you tried to imagine for just a few minutes the scene
of a battlefield where two armies are fighting, you'd realize how complex it is...
It's nearly impossible to keep track of the sequence in your mind…
Who hit whom? Where did that weapon go? When did
that fall…? Etc…
These things are symbolic when imagined, but on
the screen they become real chaos, and the buildings turn into
a blur of gray because you—of course—are unable to
imagine every window and every wall in the building.
That is why Ethan was convinced that putting his invention to use
would be very difficult... Perhaps it would require a priest from among the
Japanese Zen priests who do nothing in their lives but
concentrate...
And another idea occurred to him...
Why shouldn't the device work in reverse?
Why shouldn't the impulses travel from the computer to the brain?
Wouldn't that create a real dream machine?
He began experimenting over and over again... He completely reversed the circuits...
Then he displayed an image on the computer screen... But... no...
Seeing the image might lead him to visualize it automatically
without the machine's assistance...
So he selected ten photographs depicting a cat, a dog...
(Madonna)... (chopper)... etc... and entered them into the
computer's memory using that digitizer... then
he wrote a short program that makes the computer select a
random image and send it to him... and his task was to identify which
image it was...
He placed the electrodes on his head, closed his eyes, and began
to wait...
Finally, he saw in his mind's eye—with perfect clarity—the image of a car
speeding down a desolate desert road... How wonderful!...
The only problem here is that this image wasn't even stored on
the computer in the first place!... It was the image of "chopper" that
was now appearing on the device's screen… So the car was merely
a fleeting image that had crossed his mind by chance!
And that meant the attempt had failed…
Something was wrong… but what was it?! ...
***