Machines Like Me

Several weeks pass in which Charlie and Miranda expect Gorringe to show up and follow through with his threat. Miranda moves into Charlie’s apartment. Their relationship grows deeper now that Miranda is comfortable being fully open with him. Charlie sets Adam to work learning how the stock market works; Adam quickly makes enough money that Charlie becomes very wealthy. He begins saving cash in a suitcase under his bed and puts a deposit down on an expensive house. He stops working completely and spends his time consumed by his love for Miranda. Adam increasingly attempts to draw him into intellectual conversations, especially about direct thought transference as a replacement for school should a brain-machine interface eventually be developed. Adam takes some of the money he made for Charlie and buys himself expensive clothes without asking permission. Charlie begins to lose interest in Adam, taking his presence and help for granted.

As part of a routine check-up, software engineers from Adam’s manufacturer visit the apartment to check on Adam. Charlie watches the diagnostic code on the engineer’s laptop in awe that mere numbers contain Adam’s entire consciousness. When Adam is questioned about his emotions, the displayed code reveals that “there was no discerning the difference between love and its opposite” (204).