What can't the androids see?

tpelzy

So the titular trompe l'oeil from this episode is the fact that Bernard is programmed to not see "things that can hurt him". I feel like this will be a future plot device. We know from the other androids that pictures of modern day life "don't look like anything". What I want to know is what does that mean? Do they just see visual white noise? Does it blend into the background? What happens if you drop a host in time square. Also, Maeve could see the tablet screen from the last episode, but maybe she was overriding her programming in that moment. I have a felling that we're going to see a host/s break out into the outside world. Unless it's on Mars  

36Mick

Why is it that Bernard couldn't see the door? How would seeing the door, hurt him?

webswinger

@36Mick because it lead to a basement filled with things that. That Ford didn't want him to see.

tpelzy

I suppose the simplest answer is that Ford doesn't think the hosts can handle any info that breaks their immersion. Like Bernard seeing his own blueprint. Remember Maeve shutdown when she saw her words on the tablet. 

ChiefPizza

I feel like whatever they can't see just blends into the background. The first time Bernard goes into the cabin, when Ford seems to appear out of no where, he is standing in front of a blank wall - we are seeing this from Bernard's perspective. Now when he and Teresa go into the cabin, suddenly the door is there - Teresa points it out to Bernard and now we (and he) are able to see it. It seems like whatever they can't see is just camouflaged, like an invisibility cloak.

voodoorat

yeah, the fact that we've heard multiple people say "it doesn't look like anything to me" makes me think that's how they're coded to verbally describe the absence, but i assume that when we *saw* a solid wall where there was actually a door (and possibly where we see an empty space in that photo) is evidence that they just don't see what they're not supposed to see, it's just as if it's not there--deleted from their vision in post-production as it were.

cdrive

I suppose the simplest answer is that Ford doesn't think the hosts can handle any info that breaks their immersion. Like Bernard seeing his own blueprint. Remember Maeve shutdown when she saw her words on the tablet. 

This.

alexander.klassen

"That doesn't look like anything to me" seems more like a rote error message than a literal description of what they're seeing. It would be a strangely apathetic reaction to someone showing you what you literally see as a blank page when they clearly think has something in it. More likely you'd get "what are you getting at?" or "is this a joke?" The androids reaction seems more like a conspiracy theorist saying "that's what they want you to think!" They're not reacting to new information, they're making an excuse to ignore it.