Quaid was ready to take the pill that Rekall's founder Dr. Edgemar gave him, but when he sees a single drop of sweat running down the doctor's face Quaid immediately shoots him in the head. I don't get what was the perspiration supposed to signify?
shareThat Dr. Edgemar was hella gay.
shareThat he was in reality and not a dream.
Such fine details don't exist in virtual reality.
It was clear that if he was a passionlesss simulation he wouldn't have "nervous sweat" and that sweat, because it's a sign of nervousness, told Arnold he was lying.
But still it doesn't contradict what Dr. Edgemar was telling Quaid that his mind would keep going and making more and more of these scenarios to convince him it was real.
shareQuaid was on the fence about believing anything.
For all we know, he was in a simulation and destroyed his brain by shooting the guy.
If not, then his critical thinking skills saved him.
The sweat convinced him everything was real and not a dream.
Now whether he was right or not is another matter.
It convinced Quaid he was in the real world, not in a delusion. If there was really no potential harm to the Doctor, he wouldn't be losing his cool and breaking a sweat. It's one of the many counter clues to support the other side of the reality debate.
shareEither:
A) Dr. Edgemar and Quaid were really on Mars and the perspiration was because Edgemar was nervous that Quaid might shoot him (the pill was really a knockout pill so that they could capture Quaid and erase his memory)
B) Dr. Edgemar and Quaid were really at Recall however Quaid wanted to stay in his fantasy so he imagined the perspiration on Edgemar's head so that he could justify not returning to reality to himself (Dr. Edgemar was telling the truth about the pill)
C) Quaid were really at Recall and within the dream Edgemar worked for Cohaagan and the virtual Dr. Edgemar was that Quaid might shoot him (the pill was really a knockout pill so that they could capture Quaid and erase his memory but this was all part of the dream)