Read Terminator and Philosophy: I'll Be Back, Therefore I Am Online
Authors: Richard Brown,William Irwin,Kevin S. Decker
“Hi There . . . Fooled You! You’re Talking to a Machine.”
“It’s Not a Man. It’s a Machine.”
“Skynet Becomes Self-Aware at 2:14 AM Eastern Time, August 29th.”
“Cyborgs Don’t Feel Pain. I Do.”
NOTES
Rise of the Bête-Machines
The Thing That Separates Us from the Machines
The Sarah Connor Criterion
Dreaming about Dogs
Does Self-Awareness Demand Self-Preservation?
Shall We Play a Game?
Skynet Is from Mars, Humans Are from Venus: Emotional Problems
Robots Are People, Too
In the Future: Humans vs. Machines
Present Day: Humans as Machines
Machines and Human Nature: Why James Cameron Is a Cyborg
“You Can’t Just Go Around Killing People.” “Why?”
“All You Know How to Create Is Death . . . You Fucking Bastards.”
“We’re Not Gonna Make It, Are We? People, I Mean.”
The Spot Sarah Connor Cannot Wash Away
Simulated Society: Sarah in a Science Fiction World
Stain and Social Roles: Why Sarah Won’t Be Mother of the Year
“Desire Is Irrelevant. I Am a Machine”: Laws of Capitalism
“It’s Not Every Day You Find Out You’re Responsible for Three Billion Deaths”: ...
Judgment Day for Capitalism Is Inevitable
“Hasta la Vista, Baby”: James Cameron’s Tech-Savvy Marxism
“White Light, Pain. . . . It’s like Being Born Maybe . . . ”
“If You Don’t Send Kyle, You Could Never Be . . . ”
“One Possible Future . . . ”
“God, a Person Could Go Crazy Thinking about This . . . ”
Back from the Future
Intermission: Call Him Mister Machine
Paradoxes Galore: Why Does the Future Seem to Protect the Past?
While the Credits Roll: Can We Stop, or Even Turn Back, Weapons Technology?
The Undiscovered Country: Does the Future Exist?
Living in the Now: Is This All There Is?
Judgment Day: Is the Future Fated to Happen?
Hegel: The Germanator
The World Historical Individual: What a Tool!
Implacable History
In the End . . .
“Blowing Dyson Away”: Kant or Consequences
Machines Have Feelings, Too
Judgment Day Is the Morally Preferable Event
Are We Learning Yet?
What Is It Good For?
But It’s Self-Defense!
“In a Panic, They Try to Pull the Plug”
“Talk to the Hand”
“I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots, and Your Motorcycle”
“I Almost . . . I Almost . . . ”
“The Battle Has Just Begun”
Could the Terminator Die?
Did the Terminator Commit Suicide?
Was the Terminator’s Suicide Justified?
Can Suicide Ever Be Justified?
“You’ve Been Targeted for Termination”
“Humans Inevitably Die”
“They Tried to Murder Me before I Was Born”
“Judgment Day Is Inevitable”
“I Swear I Will Not Kill Anyone”
Cosmic Angst and the Burden of Choice
Just after 6:18 PM on Judgment Day, a Phone Rings. Should You Answer It?
Social Contracts, Divine Commands, and Utility
Why Me?
“My CPU Is a Neural Net Processor”: The Code Model and Language
Why the Terminator Has to Listen to How People Talk
Skynet Doesn’t Want Them to Do Too Much Thinking: The Inferential Model
How to Make the Terminator Less of a Dork
T1: Russell vs. Strawson
T2: The Ambiguity of “The”?
T3: Kripke and Devitt
T4: Ambiguity Salvation
If It Cries Like a Human, It Is Human . . .
“Desire Is Irrelevant. I Am a Machine”: The Mental Life of Terminators
John Connor: The T-101’s Everything