EXCLUSIVE | 'Artificial: Remote Intelligence': Tohoru Masamune on Matt's state of mind, losing Sophie and Mei
Last week's episode of 'Artificial' ended with one hell of a cliffhanger with the sudden appearance of Matt Lin (Tohoru Masamune), who had apparently been kept out of the loop in regard to the awakening of the new AI, Lilith (Tiffany Chu). In an exclusive interview with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), Masamune talks about where Matt's head is at, going into 'Artificial: Remote Intelligence' and how he's been coping.
He talks about what life on lockdown has been like — both for him and for the character he plays. "I, personally — Tohoru Masamune — I've been dealing with all the craziness in the world a certain way. However, as we know, that's not necessarily how everybody reacts. When I decide to cope with what's been going on for not just last few weeks, but the last several months — I'm doing that as best as I can. I'd like to think I'm fairly effective at it but there's also a part that I feel that takes work," he says. "It takes work and not everybody fares so well. Now I feel like Matt has this extra weight on top. So, there's this sort of alter ego I have, who has actually gone in the other direction. Coming out (of) the death of Mei (Lin) and the unfortunate termination of Sophie has been a bit much, and with the isolation, I believe as Matt I tend to overthink things anyway. It hasn't been good."
Masamune says that the events of Season 2, and the months since, would be a lot for anyone to take, but for Matt, those feelings are "deepened". In some ways, however, the social isolation necessitated by the coronavirus has been somewhat of a comfort zone for Matt. "Certainly, the isolation makes his absence, in a sense, socially excusable so that pressure is gone," he says. However, from more of an outside perspective, Masamuna says, "There's also part of this that's not very good for me, because... basically supports maybe some my worst habits." He adds, "I think that's part of being Matt."
"Now that that's been said," he continues, "when I say propensity towards isolation, I will make an exception to that; I think Matt's very intimate. Unfortunately... the people that he chose to open up to, i.e, Sophie and Mei, are now gone. I think the desire to make new friendships is not strong in Matt. So I think all those things are at play." He also talked about what reasons Matt might have to try his experiment again with a third AI, even though the decision was taken out of his hands. "Sophie has been deactivated. That's where my world is right now."
However, by the very nature of his profession, trying again just comes naturally to Matt. "I feel like, as with any self-respecting engineer, failure is just not something that is part of my lexicon. Now that being said, we're talking about sentient beings. So it's not so simple." He added, "I don't express my feeling very much," adding about Matt, "I think they run very deep. I think that's something that's maybe not really known about engineers in general. In a weird way I find personally, (as) Toru, I've been around that world my whole life, I find scientists and engineers are some of the most sensitive people I know. That's sort of been my personal experience. Maybe because they don't talk about it so much."
"I think that's where I'm at right now, in trying to resolve that. But that being said, yes there's always a solution around the corner. I think as an engineer that's what you're taught, is that there is always a solution, but there's a big one, there's a big obstacle, there's a big emotional obstacle there because there's a big hole," he says. "Arguably, it's all been taken away from me." In summary, Masamune says this of Matt's willingness to try again, "I think that's the nature of an engineer. Failure is not a good enough reason to stop doing anything. That's my feeling, and I believe that's very much a Matt thing."
The next episode of 'Artificial: Remote Intelligence' airs June 18 at 6 pm PT on Twitch.tv/ArtificialNext.