Terminator: A Real-Life Relation

Bobby Vaughn Jr.
 
 September 11th, 2013

 
 Terminator: A Real-Life Relation
 
 
 The Terminator saga does a very good job showing us what a
 
 future would be like if machines do become smart enough to
 
 “think” for themselves. Some would fear the rise of machine
 
 artificial intelligence. Some would knowingly just sit by and let
 
 the progress occur--thinking that they can not change the way
 
 things have become. Others would form a resistance and declare
 
 war against the machines. I happily side with The Resistance.
 
 Most believed and still do believe this to be the work solely of
 
 science fiction -- I argue otherwise. In the movies, Cyberdyne is a
 
 company that creates killer cyborgs, A.I. war machines, and the
 
 A.I. system known as Skynet. This paper is an analysis document
 
 of the Terminator saga’s relation to several real, modern-day
 
 companies and projects relating to this topic.
 
 It would kind of be a bummer if a company like this was real.
 
 A real Cyberdyne would pose a real threat to humanity.
 
 Speculate no more because Cyberdyne is here! Cyberdyne is a
 
 company based in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan that specializes in a
 
 wide range of robotic R&D including but not limited to “robotic
 
 factory assistance, disaster rescue assistance, medical and
 
 rehabilitation support, and human body function assistance or the
 
 elderly and disabled people”. (http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/
  company/index.html
 company/index.html) They currently are not hiring, but when
 
 they are, they are looking for individuals who have knowledge in
 
 “mechanical engineering, mechanical design, robot control theory
 
 (which includes robotics, informatics, and computer sciences),
 
 digital and analog circuit design, human interface theory,
 
 telecommunication programming, programming languages,
 
 operation system, data base, cybernics, physiology, physiotherapy,
 
 brain/nerve sciences, system engineering, and other professional
 
 knowledges.” (ibid)
 
 Cyberdyne, in the movie, originally was a manufacturing
 
 corporation. They became a beast once they recovered
 
 technology from a cyborg that had been sent from the future to
 
 kill the future leader of The Resistance, John Connor. After
 
 recovering this technology from the unsuccessful, and now
 
 demolished, killing machine, the company reverse engineered
 
 what they had found. They then created a powerful
 
 microprocessor that enabled machines to think for themselves.
 
 Now back to reality. Presently, there are modern self-thinking
 
 machine projects and programs. One example of this is called
 
 the OSCAR project. This is a project that was on going in 1989
 
 and uglily probably is still underway. I believe this to presently be
 
 active for the fact that the founder of the operation, John L.
 
 Pollock wrote, “I have a project underway at the University of
 
 Arizona whose ultimate objective is the construction and
 
 modeling of the general theory of rationality. This is the OSCAR
 
 Project. OSCAR is the system that will result. Of course the
 
 general project of modeling rationality is an immense one, and it
 
 will occupy researchers for centuries. But we are in a position to
 
 make a good start on it right now”. (Pollock page 115.)
 
 Another example of real-life cognitive, decision making
 
 computer systems is Google. Google is a little more complex and
 
 has a dark-side, besides it’s spying and constant learning. The
 
 founders of the company, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, are very
 
 big supporters and promoters of the physical, internal merging of
 
 human beings with computers. This merging of man with
 
 machine has been named “the Singularity”. Another term to use
 
 for these people that accept this union is “cyborg”. We’ve all
 
 heard the term, but most thought and still think of it as fantasy.
 
 Sorry to blow the trumpet, but this issue is a great threat to
 
 humanity as we know it. Eventually, if not already, Cyberdyne,
 
 Google, and other mad A.I. researching corporations, companies,
 
 and individuals, will start using stem-cell research, cloning, and
 
 the human trafficking market in order to create the cyborg or
 
 android of their liking. Legal or illegal, they do/are going to do it.
 
 Sergey and Larry have already played huge roles in setting up
 
 Singularity University. This installment is located in NASA
 
 Research Park in Silicon Valley, California. What could NASA
 
 want with cyborg research and development? Haha! Too easy.
 
 Outside of the cyborg realm, we turn to Skynet. Cyberdyne
 
 systems, in the Terminator saga, created for and sold to
 
 NORAD, an artificial intelligence system known as Skynet.
 
 NORAD wanted this system as an alternative to humans
 
 controlling the military’s computer systems. This switch gave the
 
 newfound A.I. system complete control of all military applications
 
 involving computers and missile activation including nuclear
 
 weapons. After being activated by NORAD, Skynet started to
 
 learn. It had been given the space (massive computer network) to
 
 become self-aware. After realizing that this new system had
 
 integrated its own consciousness, an attempt to deactivate it was
 
 made. It perceived this as a threat to its own existence. In
 
 retaliation against the ones who wanted to shut it down (humans),
 
 nuclear missiles were launched at Russia. As a counter, Russia
 
 launched nukes towards the United States and it’s partner
 
 countries. Nuclear world war had become the grim reality. After
 
 all of the smoke cleared, over 3 billion people were killed. The
 
 surviving humans banned together to form a human resistance
 
 against the machines. Thus, The Resistance was formed. John
 
 Connor eventually became the leader of The Resistance due to
 
 his previous knowledge of the machines including what they
 
 could do, where they come from, and what to look for to
 
 distinctly point-out androids and cyborgs.
 
 There has been ongoing research with many sectors to create
 
 human-like entities of these sorts. One private, tax-dollar
 
 operated division is DARPA (Defense Advanced Research
 
 Projects Agency). This is one section where the U.S. militaries
 
 “skunkworks” are researched and pushed out. They have
 
 recently been working with creating immortal synthetic biological
 
 creatures that have kill-switches. This project sports the name
 
 BioDesign. According to Wired, “The plan would assemble the
 
 latest bio-tech knowledge to come up with living, breathing
 
 creatures that are genetically engineered to “produce the intended
 
 biological effect.” DARPA wants the organisms to be fortified
 
 with molecules that bolster cell resistance to death, so that the labmonsters
 
 can “ultimately be programmed to live
 
 indefinitely.” (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/02/
  pentagon-looks-to-breed-immortal-synthetic-organisms-molecularkill-
 pentagon-looks-to-breed-immortal-synthetic-organisms-molecularkill-
  switch-included/
 switch-included/) This article was written in 2010 and is no
 
 longer on DARPAs main website. They had to make room for
 
 new projects. With mad science like this, they could easily, after
 
 much research, create androids. They could create real-life
 
 pokemon as well. They could create any kind of life-form they
 
 desire, including cyborgs, as long as it is within the individual
 
 scientists skill level. DARPA is a war research sector, so they are
 
 creating these creatures with intent to use them on the battlefield
 
 before they escape or are released from the lab to invade the
 
 populace of the U.S. This link will give you an outline of what
 
 Biological projects they are working on. As you read the project
 
 names and descriptions, think of Nazi R&D in the 30s and 40s.
 
 except beefed up to meet the needs of these technological quacks
 
 in charge: http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/DSO/Focus_Areas/
  Biology.aspx
 Biology.aspx
 
 Technology can be a good thing when researched and
 
 developed in a humane manner. The progress being made by
 
 many scientists right now resemble the "fictional" Terminator saga
 
 more than most people know. From Cyberdyne being a real-life
 
 company right now to what is happening in DARPA’s top-secret
 
 laboratories, we now know who the shadow government is. It is
 
 the machines. A computer system similar to Skynet may be in
 
 control of the United States. Who knows? It may be at Google’s
 
 headquarters or in Silicon Valley at the Singularity University
 
 installation. The documents are popping up and coming forth
 
 daily– proving that what was once thought to be a haunting
 
 science-fiction film, is moderately fast pacedly becoming a reality.
 
 This A.I. research may be occurring at your own university. John
 
 L. Pollock was researching human rationality and mapping it to
 
 integrate it into machines in 1989. It is 2013 now. One can
 
 almost just imagine the kind of R&D happening right now.
 
 Twenty-three years is a long time and a lot of progress in
 
 technology. So now, you should make a choice. Which side are
 
 you on? Join The Resistance. Join us in our fight to preserve
 
 humanity.
 
 Works Cited
 
 The Terminator saga. James Cameron. Metro-Goldwyn-
 
 Mayer, 1984 (1); 1991 (2); 2003 (3); 2009
 
 (Salvation)
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 --------------------------
 
 (http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/company/index.html)
 
 (Pollock, John L. “How to Build a Person: A
 
 Prolegomenon.” Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT
 
 Press, 1989, 1. Artificial intelligence-Philosophy.
 
 2. Machine learning)
 
 (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/02/pentagonlooks-
  to-breed-immortal-synthetic-organismsmolecular-
 to-breed-immortal-synthetic-organismsmolecular-
  kill-switch-included/
 kill-switch-included/)
 
 (http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/DSO/Focus_Areas/
  Biology.aspx
 Biology.aspx)