The Philosophy of J.J. Abrams

Person of Interest: The Machine, Gilles Deleuze, and a Thousand Plateaus of Identity

33 Person of Interest The Machine, Gilles Deleuze, and a Thousand Plateaus of Identity Franklin Allaire “You are being watched. The government has a secret system, a machine that spies on you every hour of every day.” This prologue, spoken by Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) sets the tone for fans of the J. J. Abrams–produced series Person of Interest (POI). For the uninitiated, this hit television drama is built on the premise that a machine, created by Finch after 9/11 to detect acts of terrorism, uses our own electronic footprints to see everything. This includes violent crimes happening to ordinary people. People like you. The government, however, considered these crimes to be irrelevant and wouldn’t act so Finch and his partner, John Reese (Jim Caviezel), decided they would work to prevent these crimes from happening. POI is, I believe, the first true post-9/11 series in that the entire premise of the show would not exist without the tragic events of that fateful day. Philosophers such as Gilles Deleuze and Ernest Becker might even go so far as to call it an ultimate event in that it was powerful enough in symbolism (both real and existential) to become omnipresent socially, culturally, and existentially.1 “The horrific loss of life that resulted from the terrorist attacks of 9/11 is naturally a severe jolt to us all.”2 Americans’ reactions were wide ranging, with many flocking to blood banks, hospitals, and Red Cross offices.SalesofAmericanflags,patriotictattoos,OsamabinLadenrifle-range targets (and toilet paper) increased. “For most Americans, paralysis, worry, anger, patriotism, and bloodlust have given way to a more sober perspective and sincere effort to understand what happened and why.”3 Meanwhile, government and military agencies turned their attention to the prevention of further attacks. In the POI universe, the aftermath of 9/11 creates an opportunity for 34 Franklin Allaire Finch, with help from Nathan Ingram (Brett Cullen), to create a machine in 2002 capable of using technology and our own electronic footprints to watch and ostensibly protect everyone from future acts of terror. (In the episode “Ghosts” Finch explains that The Machine uses cameras, electronic footprints from debit and credit cards, the Internet, voice and facial recognition software, government servers, and public and private databases.) The existence of such a machine in the POI universe provides us with an opportunity to explore a wide range of philosophical topics, including morality, justice, and person liberties in the real world. My interest, however , lies with The Machine itself and how its activities relate to postmodern philosophical conceptions of our identity. How does the machine identify the person(s) in the first place? How does it take the pieces of our lives and put them together in such a way that it “predicts” who will be the victim or perpetrator of a violent crime? I’m not going to pretend to understand the intricacies of computer code, so I can’t imagine what kind of programming wizardry Finch performed to enable The Machine to behave as if it has an intelligence all its own. Popping the Hood Throughout POI we’ve been given hints at the origins of The Machine and the processes it uses to identify individuals. Season 1 episode “Super” has provided us with the greatest insight into not only what The Machine does but how it does it. In the “present” Finch decides to reveal to Detective Carter (Taraji P. Henson) what he and Mr. Reese do by “throwing her in the deep end of the pool” when he reveals that Derek Watson is about to commit a violent crime. In a flashback to 2005, The Machine provides the Social Security number of Gordon Kurzweil, a CIA case officer, who is revealed to be a traitor. In both cases, Detective Carter and Deputy Director Weeks want to know how The Machine was able to recognize the crimes when their own law enforcement organizations could not. Is The Machine recognizing our identities from externally imposed definitions or is it channeling identity models suggested by Gilles Deleuze, who insists that our identities are internal self-definitions just as unique as we are? In this chapter I will approach The Machine from a philosophical standpoint that emphasizes the postmodern concept of multidimensional identities and their intersection and interaction over time. Person of Interest 35 Flesh and Blood Who are you? The question seems so simple yet is...