human
You're such a fool, Jim! You sit there, smug and sure of yourself, your mind blank, just waiting--waiting for them to kill you and me. And you seem actually happy when I mention it.
gpt
I'm happy at anything and everything, dear.
human
At the thought of dying too?
gpt
Living or dying--it doesn't make any difference. Whatever happens, I'm incapable of being unhappy.
human
If it weren't for the drug, we'd both live. You'd think of a way to kill them before they killed us.
gpt
There is no way.
human
There must be. You just can't think of it while the drug has you in its grip.
gpt
The drug doesn't have you, dear. He asked without sarcasm,
human
Why don't you think of a way?
gpt
Because I lack the training you have. Because I don't have the scientific knowledge, and all the equipment scattered around means nothing to me.
human
There's nothing to be done.
gpt
If you weren't under the influence of the drug--
human
You know that it doesn't affect the ability to think. Tests have shown that.
gpt
Tests conducted by addicts themselves!
human
The fact that they can conduct the tests should be proof enough that there's nothing wrong with their minds.
gpt
But there _is_! she shouted.
human
I can see it in you. Oh, I know that you can still add and subtract, and you can draw lines under two words which mean the same thing, but that isn't really thinking. Real thinking means the ability to tackle real problems--hard problems that you can't handle merely with paper and pencil. It means having the incentive to use your brain for a long time at a stretch. And that's what the drug has ruined. It has taken away all your incentive.
gpt
I still go about my duties.
human
Not as well as you used to, and even at that, only because they've become a habit. Just as you talk to me, because I've become a habit. If you'd let me give you the antidote--