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) 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- 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 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- kill-switch-included/) (http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/DSO/Focus_Areas/ Biology.aspx)