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View Full Version : Am I the only one who fears a Terminator Apocalypse?


EvilJesus
2008-08-01, 08:32
The Terminator franchise has earned billions of dollars and earned countless fans, but is there something more sinister to this seemingly harmless form of entertainment? Could this movie actually predict a future event or series of events?

To begin my case, I would like to discuss a book known as The Wreck of the Titan (http://www.gettysburgghosts.net/titan.htm). This 1898 book was a work of fiction, yet describes perfectly the size, details and eventual sinking of the Titanic. To prove my point, here is a list of similarities between the book and the Titanic:



From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futility,_or_the_Wreck_of_the_Titan#Similarities_t o_the_Titanic)
1. Unsinkable / Indestructible - The Titanic, world's largest luxury liner (882 feet, displacing 66,000 tons). The Titanic was considered "unsinkable". - The Titan, 880 feet, 75,000 tons was described as "indestructible"

2. Number of Propellers and Masts - The Titanic had three propellers and two masts - The Titan was identically equipped with three propellers and two masts

3. Launched In April - The Titanic steamed from Southampton,England on her maiden voyage in April 1912. - The Titan was also launched in April.

4. Lifeboats - The Titanic carried only 20 lifeboats, less than half the number required for her passenger capacity of 3000. - The Titan carried "as few lifeboats would satisfy the law", 24 life boats, less than half needed for her 3000 capacity.

5. Struck an Iceberg - Moving too fast at 23 knots, The Titanic struck an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912 in the North Atlantic. - Also on an April night in North Atlantic, The Titan hit an iceberg while traveling at 25 knots.

6. The Unsinkable Sank - The unsinkable Titanic sank, and more than half of her 2,207 passengers died screaming for help. - The indestructible Titan also sank, more than half of her 2500 passengers drowning, their "voices raised in agonized screams."

7. Struck an Iceberg - The Titanic hit the iceberg in perfect sailing conditions. - The Titan hit the iceberg and crashed in bad, misty and foggy conditions


As you can see, "a work of fiction foretelling the future" is not a question, but a provable fact. Of course, you can blow it off as coincidence, but I assure you the odds are astronomical. If a book written in 1898 can predict an event (even by accident) to such detail in 1912, is it such a stretch to say a movie could not do the same?

Now we may move on to the juicy bits.

To make sure everyone is on the same page, Terminator 1 is about a time traveling cyborg created by "Cyberdyne Systems", sent from 2029 back in time to 1984 to "terminate" one Sarah Conner before she could conceive and give birth to one John Conner who would eventually lead a revolution and organize humanity to fight back against the machines. Humanity also sends their own man (Kyle Reese) back in time to stop the terminator from assassinating Sarah. Kyle tells Sarah that a nuclear war will happen in the future, caused by the "Skynet" defense network. The Skynet learns at an exponential rate, and eventually decides that all humans are a threat. Later these "terminators" controlled by the central Skynet network hunt down and try to snuff out the last human survivors.

Sounds pretty crazy right? Sounds like absolute pure science fiction right? Well, you might be surprised that you are WRONG!!!

Let me introduce you to your new friend, The Real Skynet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_5)


Skynet is a family of military satellites, now operated by Paradigm Secure Communications on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defense, which provide strategic communication services to the three branches of the British Armed Forces and to NATO forces engaged on coalition tasks.

Now I know exactly what you're thinking, "Sure we have a military defense network which name just so happens to coincide perfectly with that of the Terminator movie, but where's the Cyberdyne company making all the human destroying cyborgs?". And to answer that, I will show you EXACTLY where the Cyberdyne company is that makes all of the human destroying cyborgs (or will), and they're RIGHT HERE (http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/).

CYBERDYNE Inc. is a venture firm aiming to utilize accomplishments by Prof. Sankai and his laboratory at University of Tsukuba.
We strongly believe that technologies should be designed for the benefits of humankind. We will be focusing on strong R&D and will introduce very new products and services to the society.

You should also check out their Robot Suit HAL.
Robot Suit HAL is a cyborg-type robot that can expand and improve physical capability.
You heard them, they made a fucking robot suit, and no, you can't afford it. Moving on, Can you imagine where Cyberdyne's technology will be in 20 years? I mean, I was playing a Nintendo Entertainment System a little over 10 years ago, and now we have the PS3. Basically, we're going to have something pretty advanced.

We have two, HUGE and important factors for a Terminator future. Two obvious and glaring signs that beg our attention, and require many more brush strokes of "coincidence" from a skeptic to put aside. For any skeptics I ask, what would have happened to the Titanic if everyone saw the similarities between the book and the boat? Could the maiden voyage have been postponed while extra life boats were added? and if it was a coincidence, was it not one that could have saved hundreds of lives?

I suppose I do sound crazy, but I think this is definitely a possibility. I'm not saying it will happen, I'm saying it could happen, with a slight lean towards "probably will happen". I guess my point is, am I the only one hugely bothered by the existence of these two key components of a Terminator Apocalypse?

Yoh
2008-08-01, 22:54
lay off the drugs man

Issue313
2008-08-01, 23:38
Not to change the subject, but we need a leap in how we approach the problem of AI. The question isn't one of computation, it's one of logic. A couple of CPUs can do all the work of a human brain. The only problem is we don't know how to program a self directed device.

In the 1970's we were probably closer to making a working AI than we are now.

Silverwolf69
2008-08-02, 07:53
Not to change the subject, but we need a leap in how we approach the problem of AI. The question isn't one of computation, it's one of logic. A couple of CPUs can do all the work of a human brain. The only problem is we don't know how to program a self directed device.

In the 1970's we were probably closer to making a working AI than we are now.

It is a problem of computation as well, a couple of CPUs cannot do the work of a human brain, the human brain is still the most powerful "CPU", if you will, there is...for the moment. It won't be in 20-30 years.

But even still, I think the public opinion of this scenario will be overwhelming enough for the companies who are doing it to approach it very delicatly and test everything on a closed network first.

Persian
2008-08-02, 13:03
Isn't that also what happens in I,Robot???

evilman
2008-08-04, 02:33
m I the only one who fears a Terminator Apocalypse?

**yes**

RamboReincarnate
2008-08-04, 02:40
I,Robot and terminator have similarities, but what would happen of our technology became more advanced in the upcoming years? Future Weapons is a great example of technology and weapons, they have self firing weapons and smart ammo. i think robots in a future is a great possibility.

Lost Path
2008-08-04, 14:41
Time travel is fake, it's just impossible. The only thing that comes near it is going to another dimension wich takes place in the past/future.
That theory isn't even proven yet.

dontfeelbad
2008-08-05, 07:00
Time travel is fake, it's just impossible. The only thing that comes near it is going to another dimension wich takes place in the past/future.
That theory isn't even proven yet.

The only way time travel would be possible, is if it split off into multiple plains of reality for each action that happened when the person traveled in time. Or something like that, idk, haven't thought much of it. And for one person to travel back in time, the paradoxes that would have to be avoided would just ruin the whole concept.

The Methematician
2008-08-08, 03:56
OP, another example you failed to mention is this :

imdb.com/title/tt0119867/

Asmodeuss
2008-08-08, 23:36
http://www.cse.lehigh.edu/~lopresti/Courses/2006-07/CSE097/Images/i-robot-10.jpg

my savior