#and landed firmly in needlessly obtuse

[nothinggathers]

I'm about to go off on a long tangent about the Kamski test here because I have spent far too many minutes of my life thinking about it. My apologies.

So the Kamski Test was "Shoot this android and I'll tell you everything I know, or spare it if you think it's alive." Or at least that's what Kamski says. But Connor's a computer and his instructions are to find deviants, and within the scope of finding deviants is pursuing information and sucking up to Hank Anderson.

Kamski, who does nothing but act like an obtuse melodramatic fuckwit from the moment we meet him, claims to have information that might be helpful to Connor. Except there's no evidence of that. So Connor, as a computer, has to weigh up the probability of Kamski both having helpful information and willingly handing it over if he shoots the Chloe (which, by the way, entirely depends on which question you ask because Kamski is nothing if not an obtuse melodramatic fuckwit).

Meanwhile, Connor's mission parameters are easier to achieve if he sucks up to Hank. He gets access to evidence and crime scenes this way. Sucking up to Hank makes his life easier.

And by this point one thing Connor has definitely learned about Hank is that Hank gets upset if Connor shoots deviants that aren't actively attacking them. Connor's meant to be bringing them in alive anyway, so this is fine by Connor's mission standards.

The second Kamski tells Connor to shoot the Chloe Hank tells him not to. Which means that Kamski's little test is no longer about any sense of empathy Connor might have, but becomes a computer picking between two weighted priorities. Find information (33% likelihood) and upset Hank (100% likelihood) or refuse (information gained 0) and make Hank happy (100% likelihood).

Connor has a pretty good shot at coming away from that interaction with nothing useful and his relationship with Hank damaged, or he can still come away with nothing useful and his relationship with Hank intact or even improved.

So why would he shoot the Chloe?

Because he's desperate. Because Amanda's pressuring him, and time is running out, and he knows that failure of the mission means his deactivation. Because he's programmed to react with a visceral horror to the possibility of failure.

He'd have to be desperate to take the chance on Kamski's information. Either his relationship with Hank is already in the tank, or the fear of death is getting to him and he prioritises a slim chance at gaining something quickly over the certain knowledge that Hank, who can have already shot him at this point, will be extremely pissed.

What's I'm saying is that shooting Chloe should have been the deviant option, driven out of fear rather than logic.

And what about Kamski? He's the smartest man on the planet, and he built androids, he should know that the second Hank says "Connor, don't" his test is null, right?

Unless he's not actually testing Connor.

Kamski knows he has at least one deviant among his Chloes. If Connor shoots the kneeling Chloe and then asks about Jericho, another Chloe transmits the location to him via interface. Only deviants get the location of Jericho because it's passed from deviant to deviant. "It means one of us trusted you enough" is what Markus gets told.

There are two Chloes in the swimming pool when you enter that room. One of them reacts to what's going on in the room, including staring at Connor as he leaves, and turning away from the scene when Connor refuses to shoot.

But she doesn't say anything. She doesn't try to stop it. She doesn't reveal herself (unless Connor shoots the other Chloe and asks the right questions).

So was Kamski really testing that Chloe's desire to cling to her own life? She can't risk revealing herself to save the other Chloe because it puts everything on the line.

Unless Connor shoots that Chloe, and then she surrenders Jericho when ordered to.

It was probably the only shot she had at preserving her own life. But it meant letting other androids die.

A test of empathy. Would she put herself before others?

TL;DR Elijah Kamski is an obtuse melodramatic fuckwit who wasn't just screwing with Connor during that scene.

i’m about to say something so controversial and not brave. kamski gives me elon musk vibes

[spacemonolith]

That's amazing. And I totally agree with the tags.

i’m about to say something so controversial and not brave. kamski gives me elon musk vibes