Devs

How long are we supposed to wait?

To feel comfortable with women having power?

How much time do we give people to adapt to change?

So, Jamie. Tell me...

What exactly is the story between you and Lily?

Actually, don't tell me. I'm gonna guess.

You're a puppy dog.

And you're devoted to her, forever and ever.

And you'll do anything she wants,

in case she chucks you a bone.

I hit the bull's-eye, didn't I?

Okay.

You're good. Let's talk.

So, in case you don't know,

my name is Kenton.

I'm the head of security at Amaya.

And I've got a problem.

My problem is I have to contain

a very complex situation,

but the situation is refusing to be contained.

In fact...

it's cascading.

Once a cascade starts, the impulse is to panic.

You feel like you're standing in front of an avalanche

with a fucking bucket and spade.

But I'm not panicking.

I'll tell you why.

Long ago...

when I was about your age,

maybe a little older,

I was in the CIA.

I was based in Hong Kong.

And we were working toward what we called

the American century.

The 20th century was all about war in Europe

and communism in Russia and Asia,

but the 21st century was gonna be

all for the stars and stripes.

Things seemed to be going pretty well.

The Soviet Union had collapsed,

Europe was nicely weak and stable.

And on my beat,

a popular uprising had started on mainland China.

The focus point was Beijing.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators

had occupied Tiananmen Square.

Wouldn't fucking budge.

And at a certain point,

my bureau chief called us into his office and said...

China was finished.

Whatever the government did wouldn't make a difference.

The protests would spread across the country,

the system would collapse.

The tipping point was reached.

The cascade was unstoppable.

You know what happened next?

The Chinese government

sent in soldiers and tanks to Tiananmen Square,

shot everybody they could.

Took the revolution by the neck

and crushed the fucking life out of it.

Today, China is the most powerful force on the planet,

the most powerful force the world has ever known.

And it turned out to be

the Chinese century.

Story over.

My point?

Everything's containable.

But only if you're willing to do what it takes.

I'm willing to do what it takes.

Do you believe me?

You are a dissident,

I am a tank.

Do you believe me?

Y... Yes.

I think you believe me.

But I need to be sure.

Shut up. Shut up.

Shut up.

Whatever you and Lily were doing,

whoever you were talking to,

whatever you're planning, it stops right now.

Unless you do exactly as I say...

no one you care about is safe.

Are we clear?

Y... Yes.

Good.

Jesus.

...wanted me to do.

So I told him... Well, I told him everything.

I told him, "This is what we're gonna do..."

Hey. Are you okay?

Sorry. Yeah. I'm fine.

If you want to be left alone, that's okay.

I can leave you alone.

It's nothing serious. No one died.

You just broke up.

Well... that counts as serious.

I guess.

So... yeah, I feel like shit.

Presumably you broke up for a reason.

Because he's not the right guy.

Yeah.

So... it is what it is.

That was blunt.

You're absolutely right. I'm sorry.

You know what, I was talking to myself, not you.

What do you mean?

I'm in the same boat.

Except a few months further down the line.

And I've become seriously expert

at beating myself up.

So I say shit like "it is what it is"

because it makes me feel like I am assertive...

instead of a punching bag.

In other words, ignore me.

Actually...

to be honest, you're right.

It is what it is.

Don't worry.

Break-ups aren't all bad.

It means you have the endless pleasure of dating ahead of you.

Christ.

What a thought.

Seriously, however bad you remember it,

it's so much worse.

I mean, the app thing is out of control.

But there's no choice if you want to meet someone.

And I don't mean meet someone special,

I mean, literally, meet anyone.

Well, I think I've done enough cheering you up.

Yeah. Great job.

I'll see you around. On Tinder.

No.

No, me neither.

I'll see you around here.

Sure.

Look down there.

Would you really feel any pity

if one of those dots stopped moving forever?

If I offered you £20,000 for every dot that stopped,

would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money?

Or would you... calculate how many dots

you could afford to spend?

Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax.

The only way...

Lily.

I'm in love with you.

It's the first time either of us have said that.

You are creative.

You are unexpected.

Funny.

Clever.

Hot.

Awesome in every way.

So, yeah... I'm in love with you.

I'm in love with you too.

Really?

Cool.

...you can save money nowadays.

Lot of good your money'll do you in jail.

That jail is in another zone.

There's no proof against me.

Besides you.

I should be pretty easy to get rid of.

Pretty easy.

Gun. Barrier. Sensor.

The dual-slit experiment.

I'm sure you are all familiar.

A stream of single quantum particles...

let's say photons...

are fired at two slits in a barrier.

Mysteriously, the single photon

appears to pass through

both slits at the same time,

as evidenced by the interference pattern

that starts to appear

when the photon hits the back sensor.

We conclude that the single photon

is somehow interacting with itself.

And now we have prima facie evidence

of the superposition of quantum particles.

That they can exist in more than one place

at the same time.

That idea...

makes us uncomfortable.

We're not used to things

being in more than one place at the same time.

It's in conflict with our direct experience of the world.

I am not in a superposition,

I am standing only here. And you

are not in a superposition,

you are sitting only there.

So we decide we need more information.

We place a detector on one of the two slits,

so we can tell when the photon is passing through.

But as soon as the detector is activated,

the interference pattern

on the back sensor disappears.

The superposition photon has suddenly collapsed