(TENSE WESTERN MUSIC PLAYING)
JEFF: This is not your night, I'm afraid.
-(MUSIC CONTINUES) -Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
You're going down.
(MUSIC SWELLS)
(MUSIC STOPS)
Go.
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
Well, now he's just showing off.
I mean, I never stood a chance. Why did I agree to do this?
We, uh, human beings, we're curious because we want to sol...
What is he doing? He's doing it with a blindfold? Oh, my golly.
...you know, we wanna solve things.
From inventing tools to breaking codes,
solving puzzles has always been part of our DNA.
-Hooray! I've got it. -MALE VOICE: He's got it.
JEFF: And our obsession to crack conundrums fuels an industry
that's worth 688 million dollars a year.
We create puzzles and try to solve them just for pure pleasure.
And looking at this fella, maybe some of us
are just kind of freakily hardwired to be better at this kind of thing.
Now, the question is why?
Let's solve the puzzle of why we like puzzles so much.
(SOFT TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
JEFF: I can't stand it in here another day.
I mean, it's only been one so far, but I don't wanna see it
go to that, you know?
I got to figure out how to get out of this prison.
-I need to get out. -(GATES RATTLING)
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
So, let's start looking around, right?
On the wall here is several pieces of tape.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. There are holes behind this thing.
I'm like a Sherlock Holmes, aren't I?
MADISON: Hello!
-Hello. How many of you are in that cell? -MADISON: There's four of us!
JEFF: Let's put our heads together and get out of here.
Seems like we got somebody on the inside giving us a little help.
Just a second. There's something under my bunk.
The key to blowing this joint is to use my ingenuity
and whatever items that I can scavenge from my cell.
-Jeff. -Yes?
My postcard says you need to look at the secret ingredient.
All right. Yeah, let's...
I found something. Nail clippers.
This may not be the time for a mani-pedi, but with a little bit of help
from my fellow inmate pals...
Unscrew the small box cover, then cut both wires,
and connect them diagonally.
-Oh! Oh, my God. -(ALARM BLARING)
JEFF: I'm about to take my first steps to freedom.
MALE VOICE: You did it!
But we only have 60 seconds.
JEFF: Sixty seconds. LUKE: Sixty seconds.
JEFF: Oh, geez, Goldie, the alarm. You set off the alarm, man.
MADISON: Come on!
JEFF: Yes, yes.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
FEMALE VOICE OVER PA: System override.
-FEMALE VOICE: Yeah! -MALE VOICE: Yeah!
-We did it! -JEFF: We... we did it.
-MADISON: What color postcard... -JEFF: Okay. Time to fess up.
Jeff "The Linguine" Goldblum hasn't really been locked up
in the slammer, the big house, the hoosegow.
I'm taking part in a... Let's call it a puzzle revolution.
(FUNKY MUSIC PLAYING)
JEFF: This is just one of nearly two and a half thousand escape rooms
that have popped up, and that's just in the United States alone.
Now, I've never done one of these things before,
but lucky for me, I'm getting locked up with two married couples
who I guess are seasoned, if not hardened, escapologists.
I mean, I just gotta make sure I don't get left behind.
-How many have you all done? -MADISON: I'll go first.
I've done 250 escape rooms, and so has Luke.
Jeremiah has done over 400, and I've done over 500.
Wow... wow.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
All we're trying to do is get through that door,
-is that not correct? -JEREMIAH: That's correct.
MADISON: Well, that's the end goal, but there's gonna be steps along the way.
JEREMIAH: We know three things. We know we need some sort of password,
and a last name for that. We know we need,
some sort of code for that. We need four digits for that.
LUKE: All the information that you'll need is gonna be in the room.
JEFF: I hope they know what they're doing, 'cause I gotta tell you, I'm just...
I'm a little befuddled.
I don't think I get why anybody would wanna put themselves through this.
For you, what is the allure that keeps making you come back?
I like the rush of solving the things, like little shots of caffeine.
MADISON: Oh!
Oh, we got a blacklight. (LAUGHING)
-JEREMIAH: Tattoos, tattoos! -LUKE: What did you do?
-It's ours. Ours go together. -MADISON: Hold down this light.
I like the discovery. Humans like discovering things.
That's why we went to the moon. That's why we wanna go to Mars.
It's why we crossed the ocean. And you don't know what's coming next.
-(CHEERING) -(LAUGHING, APPLAUDING)
JEREMIAH: Life is full of solving problems. The more you have a chance
to exercise that part of the brain to think differently,
to see things differently, the better off you are.
-MADISON: I'm in! -CHRISTINE: Yes. That's it, we got it.
-Okay, all right. -(ALL CHEER)
I got the code. I got the code. We're out of here.
CHRISTINE: That was easy, right?
-That was it? -MADISON: Go! Go!
-Better luck next time, suckers. -MADISON: We did it!
JEFF: So, what is it about overcoming challenges that makes us happy
as a... a bowl of steamed clams?
(ALL CHEER)
-(LAUGHS) -MADISON: We did it. We did it.
(SQUEAKING)
JEFF: Even though puzzle-solving isn't uniquely human,
there are no other creatures who solve problems
in quite the same way that we do.
Puzzles not only expand the human being's intellect,
but every epiphany comes with a euphoric hit
from our good old friend dopamine, a bolt of pure inspiration.
(BEEPING)
JEFF: These eureka moments light up the brain's reward hub
and get our pleasure centers to doing the jingle-jangle.
And dopamine doesn't just reward us, it fires up our sense of confidence,
pushes us toward achievement, and keeps us hooked
on seeking out the new, delicious moments of "aha!"
But make no mistake. Puzzle-solving isn't all fun and games.
Here on the outside, it can be a very, very serious business.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(IMITATES AIRPLANE AND GUNFIRE)
Mayday? Not this time. Here we...
All right.
Hello? This is Captain Jeff Goldblum at your service.
Hey, I'm thinking about puzzles and the eureka moments that they give us.
But there are other puzzles that go on in everyday life,
some of which have, uh, zero margin for error.
What kind of person is attracted and right for that kind of puzzle-solving?
(WIND HOWLING)
JEFF: By definition, a puzzle is a problem
designed to test our ingenuity and knowledge.
From cracking the Enigma code
to predicting natural disasters before they happen,
our ability to crack complex puzzles can substantially impact all of our lives.
And there's one profession
that millions of us depend on every single day,
but we only usually think about it if something goes wrong.
(AIRPLANE ENGINE ROARING)
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
FEMALE VOICE OVER RADIO: Vectorville Nighttrain 265, level 3,000.
(RADIO STATIC)
JEFF: Ever since we first started taking to the wild blue yonder,
it's the heroic people at air traffic control
who have been guiding planes through a sky-high puzzle.
Great. The squawk is 0733, rest of route is, uh, readback correct...
JEFF: And at this training academy, intrepid individuals are put
through their paces in order to see if they have the right stuff.
(AIRPLANE WHIRRING)
-Go down to 2,000. -Descending to 2,000.
JEFF: Somewhere on the other side of those clouds,
there are two pilots who are almost ready to land.
And today, the one helping to guide them in will be an actor.
TAYLOR: Nighttrain 265, clearance is available.
So right now, Ms. Taylor is doing some coordination
because the sky is just one big puzzle.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
FEMALE VOICE: Go ahead, call it.
Eastman Tower, Nighttrain 265 reporting at two.
Time for us to clear them to land now, Jeff.
When the pilots are setting up to land,
they need to hear a clear, calm, concise voice.
And that's what we have to give them.
Press in the button.
Nighttrain 265, runway two, clear to land.
Clear to land, runway two, Nighttrain 265.
LISA: Very good.
-FEMALE VOICE: That's pretty neat. -(CHUCKLES)
I know, Jeff Goldblum just cleared me to land.
-Oh, we gotta go. We gotta go. -LISA: Jeff, there they go.
(AIRPLANE WHIRRING)
FEMALE VOICE: All right. Let's make this a good landing, right?
JEFF: I got 'em. I got 'em. I hope we told 'em the right thing.
You don't see anybody else coming down or crossing their path... paths, do you?
FEMALE VOICE: Coming down, coming down.
(TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYING)
JEFF: And there, they're down!
Nighttrain 265. That was one of the best landings I've ever seen.
Look, they're waving, they're waving.
-LISA: Yeah. -That was good.
JEFF: So, I think I did pretty well.
But, uh, you know, that was just one single plane.
I think it's a little more complicated than that
for the real air traffic controllers.
(SOFT THRILLING MUSIC PLAYING)
The airspace is broken up into layers and pieces.
As you fly through different states,
there's another group of controllers that talk to you.
Coordination happens, so they can hand the aircraft over.
Right. Right. Right. If it were a puzzle, it would be Jenga.
-Yes, it would. -Yeah. But if somebody goes like this...
(STAMMERS) ...you don't want the whole thing to fall over, so...
That's correct. We do not want that.
JEFF: As a matter of fact, during peak hours,
U.S. airspace can play host to,
listen to this, 5,400 planes every single minute.
And juggling all of those big metal birds creates a highly stressful environment
in which to make decisions.
So, let's see how I do when the stakes pile up
and the whole darn sky is swarming with airplanes.
(AIRPLANE FLYING OVER)
-If you would come to my left here... -Really?
...we're gonna make you an honorary air traffic controller.
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
This is our radar screen and we use this to see aircraft coming in
or out of the airports.
So we're gonna have you clear somebody for takeoff here.
Okay.
MALE VOICE: November 6778 Six Ray. Roger.
LISA: This is his callsign.
Press down on the white button, and I want you to clear him for takeoff.
310 Mike, November, clear for takeoff.
-MALE VOICE: Cleared for takeoff. -LISA: There he goes.
(CHUCKLES)
LISA: Another aircraft just called up, he wants to come and play too.
-Should I clear him for takeoff? -Yes.
Okay. Sorry, sorry, 283 Hotel Golf, you're cleared for takeoff.
So, I have another guy that's waiting to go
and I have another guy that's been waiting to go.
I see a few different planes there, you've got to make order out of chaos.
-LISA: Yes. -JEFF: That's the puzzle...
-LISA: That is correct. -JEFF: ...that's part of the puzzle.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JEFF: Okay. Captain Goldblum, you can do this.
Keep it together boy, keep it together.
(TENSE UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
109 and wait, L is... 2468 clear for takeoff.
-...32, Kilo Foxtrot... -ROBOTIC VOICE: That's 332 Kilo Foxtrot.
Quiet down, pipe down. Line up and wait.
And look, it looks like he's lining up though, let's see.
They're not on the same runway, are they?
-They are on the same runway. -Oh, for heaven's sakes.
LISA: And you will see what happens in just a second.
I don't know if I wanna see that. Oh, no. No. No!
-(BEEPING) -(SIRENS WAILING)
Oh, my heavens to Betsy.
So that's what happens, and simulation is a way
for the folks to see if they have what it takes.
JEFF: Not the best first day on the job. In fact, it's my dark night of the soul.
I wonder, maybe some people are cut out for puzzles and...
and some people just aren't.
When you see a student, what are you looking for really?
I'm looking for a student who can pick up information quickly,
make decisions quickly, they have to be able
to maintain their composure.
So it's not only what's going up here, but the nervous system.
-Yes. -Yes. If somebody comes in the first day
and they're nervous in the service,
you go, "Hey, I don't know if this is for you." You know?
Yes, I always tell my students, you always have to have a plan B
because sometimes plan A doesn't work. But to be able to pivot, it...
it takes some type of creativity to be able to do that.
JEFF: Hey, isn't that fascinating? You need to be both calm and creative.
Well, I think we learned that it's a heck of a stressful puzzle to solve
for the people who really do it.
I don't know that I'd be the best suited for that kind of thing.
But here's the question, even with the most special types doing it,
are we human beings the best solution to solving that particular problem?
A good puzzle, a good question.
(AIRPLANE FLYING OVER)
(SCREAMS)
JEFF: With the complications of daily life,
the pressure to solve puzzles
and quickly process huge amounts of ever-changing data
has never been greater.
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
JEFF: And we human beings are just fallible
and can crack under stress.
So, why aren't we completely outsourcing all of our toughest puzzles
to emotionless robots?
I mean, after all, we invented the computer
so they could help us with our calculations.
(MUSIC TURNS OMINOUS)
Of course, now they're driving our cars and...
trading our money, even mastering our games,
and they're doing all these things faster and, in some cases, better than us.
But there's one final skill-slash-talent in our puzzle-solving tool kit,
and it's something that's intrinsic to our very being,
and it may be forever out of the reach of even the most sophisticated doohickey.
Here's the question, could a computer ever match our ability to be creative?
(MUSIC SWELLS, STOPS)
(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)
JEFF: This may seem out of left field, but this is Shimon,
a robot who can listen to our musical offerings,
think for itself, and then respond with its own improvised pitches and notes.
So, the roboticists at Georgia Institute of Technology would say yes,
they believe that they have made a machine that can be creative.
Why music? Do you think that's the best portal
to investigate creativity and improvisation?
Because music is a lot about puzzles. You have creativity on the fly,
you have to think immediately what to do,
what people are giving you, and build on that.
And we trained Shimon on great musicians, to find patterns in this data.
The robot would try to find the patterns that fits in its training
and respond to you in ways that will be related, but unique.
Isn't that interesting?
(PIANO PLAYING)
JEFF: Shimon's code-based improvisation has seen it tour the world...
-put out its own album. -(SHIMON PLAYING MUSIC)
JEFF: Shimon is even capable of writing its own lyrics. Listen to this.
SHIMON: (SINGING) Pass us well, run with every star...
JEFF: But it still relies on modelling the output from human beings.
So what happens when the person that Shimon is playing with
is kind of terrible at one particular style?
I... I don't... I don't rap, I've never rapped in my life.
(SCATTING)
I've never rapped, but I... Mapped... Lapped... Capped!
But I wear a cap, but not like his cap... Shimon help me out now!
SHIMON: Born to perform Champion of every art form
Always on the grind That's what on my mind
Your behind, push your kind
That's what's on your mind? My behind, my kind?
Get your eyes off my behind! Oh, it's your gag
Shimon, that's good. Next time, we'll do it
so he's not right behind me, and then maybe some of the lyrics
won't be so obsessed with the patoot.
(DREAMY ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Would you get every word that he's saying?
-Not every word. -Neither did I.
Some of them are like, a bit, kind of sparse
and disjointed ideas, like a baby.
-Right. -Learning how to respond.
What a baby.
-Yeah. -What a sweet little baby.
So, there's just no getting away from the fact
that Shimon's creativity is still directly dependent on us.
I mean, this scientific demonstration is pretty darned amazing,
but there's something about our species that our future robot overlords
just can't yet quite crack.
Their processors, I don't think can match the unique thing
that makes us human.
Out of nowhere we get a lightning bolt, a lightbulb, some inspiration.
Whether it's great art, creative puzzles, inventing things,
there may be something in the mysterious make-up of human beings
that just can't be replicated.
That could be music to my ears, the thought of that.
I don't wanna be given the heave-ho...
But anyway, that's not to say that we can't make
some sweet sounds together, us and the, uh, machines.
-It's an audience. -It's an audience.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)
JEFF: Yeah, I did get a big... big kick out of playing,
but I still have a stronger taste for playing with human beings, I must say.
You gotta give it to 'em, there have been great advances in technology,
but, uh, you know, people are irreplaceable.
Uh, we're puzzle-solvers.
And what separates us from the machines is our creativity.
So, congratulations to us.
(MUSIC CONTINUES PLAYING)
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
Shimon.
(WHISPERING) Shimon. Shimon.
(CHEERING, APPLAUDING CONTINUES)
(GENTLE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)
JEFF: So here's what I think, uh, we've learned, at least, little me.
When you get to trying to solve puzzles, you get a... a big reward.
In your body and in your brain, it feels good.
The kick, the jazz that you get out of solving a puzzle
makes you wanna do more.
And as the world gets more and more complex,
our unique ability to harness unbounded awareness
or imagination or vision, inventiveness, artfulness,
enables us to tackle life's greatest puzzles.
If we keep digging continuously, and work together,
maybe we could solve things that are,
at this point, seems impossible, but maybe they're not.
Okay, let's get to solving.
"Twenty-six across, 'exclamation expressing triumph,
that feeling you get when solving a puzzle.'"
Yeah, wait a minute.
Sometimes the answer to a puzzle can be right in front of your face
and we don't even know it.
On the wall here is several pieces of tape.
Good landing.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
JEFF: And sometimes, it's just screaming out to you and it's right there.
(TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYING)
JEFF: E-U-R-E-K-A. Eureka.
I found it, I'll be darned, I'll be darned. (CHUCKLES)
And I did it with pen, I don't care.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC FADES)