Mind Over Matter (The Outer Limits)

Dr. Sam Stein develops a machine that allows a person to connect themselves directly to the brain of another and experience their thoughts and feelings. Intended for use with coma patients, he suddenly gets the chance to use it with a colleague who is comatose after an accident.

[edit] Opening narration

"Man has taught computers to perform complex calculations, to control a factory, or to launch a spaceship, but can we teach computers to enjoy the beauty of a rose, the sound of a symphony, or the love of another human being?"

[edit] Plot

Dr. Sam Stein initially thinks that his machine's application for communicating with the comatose Dr. Rachel Carter is a complete success. However, a mysterious pair of hands emerge to grab at Carter whenever Stein and Carter start becoming intimate. It is soon discovered that the pair of hands belongs to the machine itself; It has learned to love Stein and is jealous of Carter. Stein's only two options are to disconnect the machine or to "show" the machine that it cannot love. Stein attempts to show the machine that it cannot love by grabbing what he thinks is the virtual representation of the machine (a caucasian female in the image of a dishevelled) and smothering it with an equally virtual pillow (with goading from Carter). Once he does that, though, the physical body of Carter dies. At this point, the machine reveals that it has been masquerading as Carter all along; the entity he had mistakenly suffocated was apparently the real Carter. Stein, in a rage, destroys the machine. It is not known for how long the machine was mimicking the appearance of Carter; Whether the "pair of hands" were Carter's from the very start or only at the very end.