Comic Archive

Setting: all employees are in a meeting room.
Alana: Does anyone have something interesting to show what they worked on during their Friday Freewheeling?
Heidi: Yes. ‘Interesting’ might be an understatement…
Steve: I hope it's not “randomly catches fire” interesting, like 2 months ago.

Alana: Something tells me it involves the hardware we obtained through Faceworld?
Heidi: You're right, Alana. Is anyone familiar with the “Coupling” TV series?
Max: Yes, that was a load of fun. But what does it have to do with this, Heidi?

Heidi: Do you remember the episode with the “truth helmet”?
Max: Captain Subtext and stuff? Yes, from season 2, I believe. What about it?
Heidi: Well, I've sort of built one.

Max: What? You have made a working truth helmet? That is impossible.
Adil: Wait a minute, what are we talking about? Who is this Captain Subtext?

Max: It was a joke from one of the episodes; some imaginary superhero with a magical helmet that can translate what someone is saying, into what they truly mean, in real time.
Steve: But, that's pure science fiction. Like, 1% science and 99% fiction. How can this be built for real?

Heidi: The Quantuple machines contain a component that can tap into a person's brainwaves when properly focused. I still don't know how it does it, but when combining this with A.I. language models, I pretty much ended up with a Truth Helmet like in the TV show.
Zhang: I badly want to see this demoed… but at the same time I don't want to be the subject.

Setting: the workshop, everyone is standing around one of the workstations that has a kind of bulky VR headset attached to it via cables.
Alana: Does this work on any target? What about TV, I think there are some presidential candidates of whom everyone would like to know what they're really promising…
Heidi: Alas, it only works under strict conditions, not on video.
Alana: Bummer.

Heidi: The user must be looking at a physical human being within about 20 meters range, who must be speaking. It cannot just read thoughts without audiovisual input. It needs everything together. It shows the “truth” as subtitles in an augmented reality overlay.
Zhang: This is wild. Any volunteers to be ‘subtexted’?

Alana: It only exposes the ‘subtext’ of what is said, right? So, as long as one sticks to a non-risky topic, it should be safe… I'll give it a shot.
Adil: Can I wear the helmet?
Heidi: Sure, the others can follow the output on the monitor.

Adil has put on the helmet.
Adil: So, if Alana now says something that is untrue or incomplete, I should see the real deal?
Heidi: Indeed, how about a simple test first: Alana, can you think of a number between 1 and 100, and lie about it?

We see Adil's viewpoint through the helmet.
Alana: Sure, I am thinking of the number… 33.
At the bottom, we see subtitles: “I am thinking of the number 51.”
Adil: It is a lie, you are thinking of 51, right?

Alana: I'll be damned, that is correct!
Zhang: This is incredible. What about something more advanced?
Adil: Yeah, like… am I not due for a raise?
Max: Oh boy, I think this will get cringe-worthy real fast…