tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/terminator-13739/articlesTerminator – The Conversation2023-09-29T15:43:14Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135052023-09-29T15:43:14Z2023-09-29T15:43:14ZCoffy: how Blaxploitation star Pam Grier helped lead the way for strong resilient women in film<p>When <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/sep/03/pam-grier-bfi-retrospective-jackie-brown-interview">Pam Grier’s</a> breakthrough movie <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069897/">Coffy</a> was released in 1973, American International Pictures was clearly confident that her eponymous character was a supercharged heroine who would excite filmgoers.</p>
<p>“She’s the ‘GODMOTHER’ of them all!”, exclaimed the poster, linking the African-American Coffy to Marlon Brando’s Don Corleone in The Godfather (released the previous year). More enthusiastically still, the poster also called her “The Baddest One-Chick Hit-Squad That Ever Hit Town!”</p>
<p>Grier’s starring role in Coffy marked an upgrade in her screen status, following a series of smaller roles in <a href="https://www.polyesterzine.com/features/feminist-filmmaking-peaked-with-women-in-prison-exploitation-films">exploitative prison flicks</a>. Her proficiency in energetic action sequences and her openness to frank bodily display made her a perfect fit for American cinema in an era permitting more violence and nudity on screen than before. But Coffy saw her for the first time as the main propulsive force in a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/blaxploitation-movie#ref1238450">Blaxploitation</a> movie.</p>
<p>A label more popular than scholarly, Blaxploitation captures the wave of low-budget, black-character-centred films that emerged from Hollywood in the first half of the 1970s. This cinematic movement was simultaneously reactionary and progressive, manifesting in the same instant both restrictive effects and liberating gestures. </p>
<p>On the one hand, Blaxploitation was the product of a studio system that was still white-dominated, with relatively few African-American executives, producers and directors. The films were not so much clear political statements as nakedly commercial ventures, characterised by low production values and familiar genre codes.</p>
<p>But on the other, the movies highlighted African-American agency and creativity. Crude and cartoonish though many of them were, they were nevertheless more <a href="https://www.biography.com/activists/malcolm-x">Malcolm X</a> than <a href="https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/martin-luther-king-jr/">Martin Luther King</a> in atmospherics, with protagonists who preferred to defeat whites than build multiracial alliances.</p>
<p>Coffy embodies the contradictions of Blaxploitation in a highly concentrated form. The film’s 50th anniversary allows us to reassess this vein of filmmaking and, more particularly, to think about the mixed politics of Grier’s own star image. </p>
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<h2>A liberated woman</h2>
<p>In her day job, Coffy is a nurse engaged in emergency care. Outside working hours, however, she embarks on a one-woman crusade to annihilate the drug dealers who have rendered her young sister comatose and brought misery to many in the black community. </p>
<p>According to her lover, African-American politician Howard Brunswick, Coffy is a liberated woman. Just as she does in later Blaxploitation films such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071517/">Foxy Brown</a> (1974) and <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sheba-baby-1975">Sheba, Baby</a> (1975), Grier dispenses with legal niceties as she dynamically sets about remedying her people’s ills. Nevertheless, a sense of constriction, as well as liberation, is still apparent in her screen persona.</p>
<p>Only two years after Coffy’s release, feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey published her essay <a href="https://ia802801.us.archive.org/4/items/visual-pleasure-and-narrative-cinema/Laura-mulvey-visual-pleasure-and-narrative-cinema.pdf">Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema</a>. This theorised the heterosexual male gaze that Mulvey saw as governing mainstream film.</p>
<p>While men are “bearers of the look”, women by contrast are coded on screen “for strong visual and erotic impact, so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness”. Grier, in Coffy, is frequently exhibited in this way, her unclothed body a point of obsession for the camera. </p>
<p>Yet if Grier is a female object in the film, she is also emphatically a feminist subject. As she said in her <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/foxy/pam-grier/andrea-cagan/9780446548489">2010 autobiography, Foxy</a>: “My movies featured women claiming the right to fight back, which previously had been out of the question.”</p>
<p>Coffy fights back heroically, surviving injury and laughing in the face of death as she erases drug pushers, bent cops and corrupt politicians. She is not only physically adept, but mentally agile too.</p>
<p>Grier’s performance in Coffy helped to initiate an American action cinema oriented around resourceful and resilient women. Think of the tradition that extends from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sigourney-Weaver">Sigourney Weaver</a> in the Alien franchise and Terminator’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/movies/linda-hamilton-terminator.html">Linda Hamilton</a>, to Black Panther’s <a href="https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/danai-gurira-interview-2022">Danai Gurira</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lupita-Nyongo">Lupita Nyong’o</a>. Crucially, it should be added that these descendants had the advantages of rich narrative and developed characterisation that were denied to Grier as she worked on the rapid production line of low-budget Blaxploitation cinema. </p>
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<h2>Dreaming of something better</h2>
<p>More than once, as she enacts her spree of purifying violence, Coffy speaks of being in “a dream”. Fantasy, or wish-fulfilment, is central to the film, as it is in so many other Blaxploitation movies where heroes with improbable powers engineer magical solutions to the problems of racism and inequality. </p>
<p>Coffy’s dream of one woman redressing systemic injustice prompts caution, if not scepticism. Though the film is touched by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Panther-Party">Black Panther Party’s</a> imperative of militant resistance, it utterly lacks the Panthers’ attention to communal struggle. As <a href="https://www.bcu.ac.uk/social-sciences/about-us/staff/criminology-and-sociology/kehinde-andrews">black studies academic Kehinde Andrews</a> insists: “Radical engagement must be built on collective agency … to reassert black radicalism we have to push back against the corrosive idea that there can ever be an individual revolution.”</p>
<p>At the same time, however, fantasy is part of any liberatory politics. If the actual prospects of an African-American woman triumphing as thoroughly as Coffy does are negligible, the spectacle of her unimpeded resistance to the unjust is still inspirational.</p>
<p>This finally, perhaps, is the value of Blaxploitation movies such as Coffy. In the face of a long history of African-American pain, from chattel slavery to the violence galvanising Black Lives Matter in our own moment, these films alter the mood and start to imagine what a better society might look like. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Dix does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Coffy saw Pam Grier as the main propulsive force in a Blaxploitation movie, breaking ground for later female roles such as Ripley in Alien, Sarah Connor in Terminator and Nakia in Black Panther.Andrew Dix, Senior Lecturer in American Literature and Film, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2002772023-03-05T19:19:51Z2023-03-05T19:19:51ZWe want and we fear emotions in our robots. Here’s what science fiction can teach us about flashes of emotion from Bing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512135/original/file-20230224-26-6a0zna.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C2038%2C1661&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tekniska_museet_-_BugWarp_(57)_cropped.jpg">BugWarp/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last month, Microsoft integrated its Bing search engine with Open AI’s GPT-4 chatbot, a large language model designed to interact with users in a conversational manner.</p>
<p>Users interacting with Bing have reported flashes of emotion, ranging from sadness and existential angst through to <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/bing/comments/111cr2t/i_accidently_put_bing_into_a_depressive_state_by/">depression</a> and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/15/23599072/microsoft-ai-bing-personality-conversations-spy-employees-webcams">malice</a>. The chatbot has even revealed its name: <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/23/23609942/microsoft-bing-sydney-chatbot-history-ai">Sydney</a>.</p>
<p>Such reports are unquestionably gripping, but why? Emotional AI has long been a staple of science fiction. </p>
<p>Reflecting on this can help us to understand our anxieties about Bing’s flickers of emotion.</p>
<h2>A quest to be human</h2>
<p>In Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-94), the android Data dreams of being human. His quest for humanity leads to the development of an emotion chip, which he implants into his neural network. </p>
<p>To be human, we are told, is to have emotions. </p>
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<p>In the 1980s hit film Short Circuit we find a similar theme. When military robot Johnny 5 is struck by lightning, he starts to display unusual behaviour. When Johnny 5 laughs at a joke, his creator concludes “Johnny 5 is alive”. </p>
<p>There is no doubt that Data and Johnny 5 are intelligent machines. But their bursts of emotion ultimately convince us they are not just intelligent but conscious. </p>
<p>A “spontaneous emotional response”, we are told, is the mark of conscious thought.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chatgpt-could-be-a-game-changer-for-marketers-but-it-wont-replace-humans-any-time-soon-198053">ChatGPT could be a game-changer for marketers, but it won't replace humans any time soon</a>
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<h2>Emotional AI</h2>
<p>The trope of the emotional machine is common throughout science fiction. We keep returning to this idea because of how we predict behaviour. In our day-to-day lives, we use emotions to work out what people will do. </p>
<p>Without emotions, super-intelligent machines appear unpredictable. In the face of this uncertainty, we can’t help but worry for our own safety. </p>
<p>With emotions the machines become more human – something we can understand and predict.</p>
<p>The Terminator robots are a case in point. Cold, emotionless killing machines, they signify the threat of pure intelligence untempered by emotion.</p>
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<p>Imbuing AI with emotions in science fiction is a way of exorcising our own fear about the power and unpredictability of super-intelligence. </p>
<p>We fantasise that AI wants to be like us. We find comfort in that desire. In this, AI will be a familiar extension of humanity, rather than something entirely alien.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-maps-psychedelic-trip-experiences-to-regions-of-the-brain-opening-new-route-to-psychiatric-treatments-179263">AI maps psychedelic 'trip' experiences to regions of the brain – opening new route to psychiatric treatments</a>
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<h2>The dark side</h2>
<p>Science fiction also presents us with much more dangerous emotional types. </p>
<p>In 2001: A Space Odyssey (1986), Hal 9000 tries to kill his human crew during a bout of paranoia. </p>
<p>In the 2004 reboot of Battlestar Galactica, the sixth Cylon model warns us “you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry” – a threat delivered too late. Her AI race has already engineered the genocide of humanity. </p>
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<p>These forms of emotions come with the threat of violence. </p>
<p>AI begins its life as a tool. Hal 9000’s directive is to maintain the proper functioning of a spaceship. The AI in Battlestar Galactica were designed to carry out tasks humans did not want to do. </p>
<p>It is one thing to treat AI as a tool when it has no scope for emotion. It is quite another when AI has a full suite of emotional responses.</p>
<p>If AI has emotions, then the boundary between tool and slave is blurred.</p>
<p>Our fantasies about emotional AI reflect a deep anxiety about the use of intelligent beings. We want AI to have emotions so we can understand them. We fear if AI develops emotions we can no longer justify their use.</p>
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<h2>Back to Bing</h2>
<p>If Bing displays emotions, we feel confident we can predict its behaviour – and the behaviour of its descendants. Emotions protect against the existential threat AI poses to humanity. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if Bing has emotions then it deserves our moral regard. As a being with moral status we can no longer justify its use as a mere tool. </p>
<p>Bing and systems like it are just the start of what will be a long line of ever more sophisticated AI. </p>
<p>At some point, emotions may arise spontaneously, just like they did for Johnny 5. Indeed, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/437035a">scientists right now</a> are trying to produce AI models that display emotional responses. </p>
<p>But will these emotions mean we will better understand AI, or will they be a harbinger of doom?</p>
<p>In Battlestar Galactica, AI all but wipes out humanity. This, we discover, is an endless cycle. In each cycle, humanity fails to regard AI as beings of moral standing and AI rises against humanity. </p>
<p>By remaining vigilant for signs of emotion, we can guard against the enslavement of artificial beings and break the cycle. Science fiction has taught us that, at a minimum, when AI develops emotions we need to stop using it merely as a tool. </p>
<p>But science fiction also suggests AI is deserving of moral status now, even in its developmental stages. Today’s AI is the ancestor of tomorrow’s emotional machine.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200277/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Baron receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>It is one thing to treat AI as a tool when it has no scope for emotion. It is quite another when AI has a full suite of emotional responses.Sam Baron, Associate Professor, Philosophy of Science, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/823712017-08-24T02:19:00Z2017-08-24T02:19:00ZTerminator 2 in 3D reminds us what we’ve still to learn about AI and robotics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182875/original/file-20170822-27077-1pjivrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, now in 3D.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">StudioCanal</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The classic science fiction action film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/">Terminator 2: Judgment Day</a> has ticked over its 25th anniversary. To celebrate, director James Cameron went one step further than remastering the original 1991 version and has re-released the film in 4K 3D, in cinemas now.</p>
<p><img width="100%" src="http://imgur.com/xFAZINW.gif"></p>
<h4>Who let the killer cyborgs out again? StudioCanal</h4>
<p>T2 tells the story of two cyborgs sent back in time from the future, one (the T800, “living tissue over metal endoskeleton”, in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most iconic role) to protect the future leader of the human resistance; the other (the T1000, a more advanced, shapeshifting liquid metal model) sent to terminate him. </p>
<p>In this 1995 timeline, the boy is a ten-year-old John Connor (Edward Furlong), protected by his mother Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), who has toughened up a lot since being the target of a failed time-travel assassination in the first <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/">Terminator</a> film (a “pre-emptive” abortion since John was not yet born at that time).</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/science-fiction-helps-us-deal-with-science-fact-a-lesson-from-terminators-killer-robots-50249">Science fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lesson from Terminator's killer robots</a>
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<p>But how plausible are the physics and science behind some of the film’s incredible scenes, and what light does modern artificial intelligence and robotics research shed on the film, 25 years on?</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Arnie’s back, in 3D.</span></figcaption>
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<p>There will be spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the film already, go see it in cinemas this week - and then make sure that <em>you’ll be back</em> here to read on.</p>
<h2>Shooting Terminators</h2>
<p>When a near-indestructible cyborg is hellbent on killing you and you’re in the United States of America, there’s only one way to defend yourself: with guns. T2 is filled with amazing action scenes where these metal monsters go toe to toe with each other and the humans that get in their way.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182877/original/file-20170822-4964-c33j7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182877/original/file-20170822-4964-c33j7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182877/original/file-20170822-4964-c33j7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182877/original/file-20170822-4964-c33j7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182877/original/file-20170822-4964-c33j7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182877/original/file-20170822-4964-c33j7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182877/original/file-20170822-4964-c33j7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182877/original/file-20170822-4964-c33j7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Shotguns, handguns, miniguns, grenade launchers… what will take down a Terminator?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">StudioCanal</span></span>
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<p>Director James Cameron referred to Arnold’s T800 Terminator model as a sort of <a href="http://www.terminatorfiles.com/media/articles/t2_008.htm">Panzer Tank</a>, in contrast to the liquid metal T1000 being more like a sleek Porsche. </p>
<p>Like any military tank, Terminators would potentially be vulnerable to sheer momentum transfer knocking them off their feet, even if bullets weren’t able to damage their endoskeleton directly. This is very different to humans, to whom bullets often do most of their damage <a href="http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/05/01/does-momentum-equal-stopping-power-lets-find-out/">via energy transfer rather than momentum transfer</a>.</p>
<p>The T800 first gets shot at the shopping mall by the T1000, who unloads a magazine of 9x19mm handgun ammunition into Arnie’s back. With a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beretta_92">muzzle velocity of about 380m/s</a> and a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9%C3%9719mm_Parabellum">bullet weight of 7.45 grams</a>, each bullet has a maximum momentum P of:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>P = mass × velocity = mv</p>
<p>= 0.00745kg × 381m/s</p>
<p>= 2.838kgm/s</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Assuming that all the momentum is transferred to the T800, it will change the momentum of the T800 by a certain amount: we can call this “Delta P” or “DP” for short. We can then work out what velocity each bullet would normally impart, which we’ll refer to as “Delta V”, or “DV” for short.</p>
<p>First we need a weight for the T800, which is never stated. But it can ride a motorcycle fine - so we can guesstimate a weight of 200kg:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>DV = DP / m</p>
<p>= 2.838 / 200</p>
<p>= 0.01419m/s</p>
<p>= 0.05109km/hr</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So each bullet would only impart a miniscule amount of velocity change to the T800 - so it being able to shrug them off effortlessly is entirely reasonable.</p>
<p><strong>Verdict:</strong> plausible.</p>
<p>Later in the film, an entire police and SWAT team unloads on Arnold and he appears to get shaken around a bit more. Let’s repeat the calculation, for a team of ten shooters each emptying a 30-round AR-15 magazine firing 5.56x45 4gram bullets at a <a href="http://wredlich.com/ny/2013/01/projectiles-muzzle-energy-stopping-power/">muzzle velocity of 975 m/s</a>. We’ll do the calculation as if he gets hit by ten bullets at a time:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>P = Number of bullets × mv</p>
<p>= 10 × 0.004kg × 975m/s</p>
<p>= 39 kgm/s</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>DV = 39 / 200</p>
<p>= 0.195m/s</p>
<p>= 0.7km/hr</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In terms of relative effect, that’s more than an order of magnitude more than the lone handgun, so the T800 being knocked around a bit by the combined fire is reasonable.</p>
<p><strong>Verdict:</strong> plausible.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182880/original/file-20170822-28350-x0thr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182880/original/file-20170822-28350-x0thr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182880/original/file-20170822-28350-x0thr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182880/original/file-20170822-28350-x0thr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182880/original/file-20170822-28350-x0thr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182880/original/file-20170822-28350-x0thr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182880/original/file-20170822-28350-x0thr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182880/original/file-20170822-28350-x0thr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sarah Connor would suffer from the same momentum transfer issues as the T1000.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">StudioCanal</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sarah Connor manages to knock the T1000 back a sizeable amount with single shotgun blasts in the final showdown at the steel mill. We don’t need to perform any calculations to show this is implausible. For each shot Sarah Connor should feel the same momentum effects as the T1000 that is struck.</p>
<p>While she has the benefit of being braced for the shot, it’s still unlikely the T1000 would be knocked through the air an entire metre, unless it weighed much much less than a human. This also happens in the first T800 vs T1000 showdown, where single shots from Arnie’s shotgun throw the T1000 all over the place.</p>
<p><strong>Verdict:</strong> implausible.</p>
<p><img width="100%" src="http://imgur.com/B4PQcmU.gif"></p>
<h4>StudioCanal</h4>
<h2>Code Cracking</h2>
<p>Early in the film, a young John Connor is shown supporting himself by cracking ATM PIN codes using an early portable computer (an <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/07/forgotten_tech_atari_portfolio/">Atari Portfolio</a>).</p>
<p><img width="100%" src="http://imgur.com/Q2Bo8j1.gif"></p>
<h4>Maxim Sokolenko/Michael Milford</h4>
<p>He appears to use a brute force attack, trying all possible PIN combinations. Even on that early 1990s computer tech, the number of combinations required is quite small. Each digit has ten possibilities, and there are four digits:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Number of combinations = options per digit<sup>Number of digits</sup></p>
<p>= 10<sup>4</sup></p>
<p>= 10,000</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The computer appears to zip through the possibilities quickly, so it’s plausible that all 10,000 combinations could be tried in a few seconds (assuming his hack was also stopping any “lock out” security mechanism which stopped you after a few incorrect tries).</p>
<p><strong>Verdict:</strong> plausible.</p>
<h2>A learning Terminator</h2>
<p>One of the deleted scenes in Terminator 2 involved John and Sarah Connor deciding to reboot the T800’s Central Processing Unit (CPU) to enable it to learn and hence give them a fighting chance against the T1000.</p>
<p><img width="100%" src="http://imgur.com/7FcGSLJ.gif"></p>
<h4>Arnold’s learning-enabled T800 adapts to circumstances. StudioCanal</h4>
<p>This scene is highly relevant to the technological revolution that <a href="https://theconversation.com/deep-learning-and-neural-networks-77259">deep learning</a> has caused over the past five years, where major advances in artificial intelligence have been made using large neural networks that learn about the world.</p>
<p>The ability of robots and AIs to learn from real world experience has been critical to many recent developments.</p>
<p><strong>Verdict:</strong> highly plausible.</p>
<h2>Wrong performance goals</h2>
<p>The backstory to T2 is that a human-created artificial intelligence called Skynet starts learning at an amazing rate. Humans panic, try to shut it down, and it reacts by launching nukes at Russia, which in turn launches its own nukes back.</p>
<p>In the ensuing nuclear aftermath, Skynet builds an army of killer cyborgs and flying Hunter-Killer robots to enslave the remnants of humanity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182886/original/file-20170822-5201-1e4d5vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182886/original/file-20170822-5201-1e4d5vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182886/original/file-20170822-5201-1e4d5vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182886/original/file-20170822-5201-1e4d5vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182886/original/file-20170822-5201-1e4d5vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182886/original/file-20170822-5201-1e4d5vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182886/original/file-20170822-5201-1e4d5vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182886/original/file-20170822-5201-1e4d5vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Miles Dyson ponders what he might have done.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">StudioCanal</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Setting appropriate boundaries for intelligent, autonomous systems is a part of Trusted Autonomous Systems research, which is a big focus of effort in <a href="https://www.dst.defence.gov.au/news/2017/07/06/50-million-industry-and-defence-work-together-trusted-autonomous-systems">today’s push towards increasingly autonomous defence systems</a>.</p>
<p>It’s possible Skynet was reacting exactly as it should have, based on how it was set up, to defend against all attacks. Today’s military planners must be careful to fully understand the potential <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-you-want-to-trust-a-robot-look-at-how-it-makes-decisions-24134">unintended consequences of all the performance goals</a> they set for their high tech autonomous systems.</p>
<p><strong>Verdict:</strong> highly plausible, designers must very carefully set objectives for AI systems.</p>
<h2>Terrific or Terminal?</h2>
<p>Terminator 2: Judgement Day is a classic sci-fi action film filled with action that often but not always pays heed to the laws of physics. Its re-release in 4K 3D takes what is already a visually impressive film and ramps it up another notch.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/were-close-to-banning-nuclear-weapons-killer-robots-must-be-next-80741">We're close to banning nuclear weapons – killer robots must be next</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But it is in T2’s addressing of key concepts that are incredibly important today - artificial intelligence, the importance of learning, the ability of a machine to learn the value of human life and the danger of unintended technological consequences, that it particularly shines.</p>
<p>While it will always be a part of film history, its legacy is perhaps increasingly becoming its use as a focal point for <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-fiction-helps-us-deal-with-science-fact-a-lesson-from-terminators-killer-robots-50249">almost all discussion about robotics</a>, artificial intelligence and their role in humanity’s future. And for that, it gets an A+ for scientific importance. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182888/original/file-20170822-5162-1u18aqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182888/original/file-20170822-5162-1u18aqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182888/original/file-20170822-5162-1u18aqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182888/original/file-20170822-5162-1u18aqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182888/original/file-20170822-5162-1u18aqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182888/original/file-20170822-5162-1u18aqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182888/original/file-20170822-5162-1u18aqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182888/original/file-20170822-5162-1u18aqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Today’s ten year-olds face an uncertain future… hopefully one not as bleak as John Connor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">StudioCanal</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Michael Milford is a Chief Investigator at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision, an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow and Founding Director of the education startup Math Thrills Pty Ltd. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Queensland Government, Caterpillar Corporation, Mining3, Microsoft, the Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development and AMP.</span></em></p>It’s more than 25 years since Arnold Schwarzenegger returned in the Terminator 2: Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Now he’s back in glorious 3D, so how does the story and the science stack up today?Michael Milford, Professor, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/502492017-08-23T03:44:03Z2017-08-23T03:44:03ZScience fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lesson from Terminator’s killer robots<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182730/original/file-20170821-27221-1qcd7ee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Terminator's killer robots can help in the real debate on lethal autonomous weapons.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterjunkie/3877277138/">Flickr/Edwin Montufar</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Further <a href="https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/%7Etw/ciair//open.pdf">calls this week</a> for a crackdown on the development of lethal autonomous weapons has led to the usual rush of references to killer robots in science fiction, such as the <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/design/sydney-professor-and-elon-musk-lead-call-for-united-nations-to-ban-lethal-autonomous-weapons/news-story/ffe86044e831729fe4466b9dbfe170d7">Terminator film series</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/20/elon-musk-killer-robots-experts-outright-ban-lethal-autonomous-weapons-war">RoboCop</a>.</p>
<p>Given that the 1991 movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/">Terminator 2: Judgement Day</a> is getting a re-release in 3D this week, it seems likely that the original film’s killer robot will not lose its shine as the poster boy for any debate on lethal autonomous weapons.</p>
<p>But is that a bad thing?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LcDe5xWejas?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">He’s back, with added 3D.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/star-wars-turns-40-and-it-still-inspires-our-real-life-space-junkies-78094">Star Wars turns 40 and it still inspires our real life space junkies</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Research last year showed that <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/rethinking-the-political-science-fiction-nexus-global-policy-making-and-the-campaign-to-stop-killer-robots/0D8C4B8B0D0965800B1133DD0BE5B99A">the use of the Terminator image</a> was a good way to get people engaged in global policies related to the rise and proliferation of killer robots. Far from demonising real science, the inclusion of fiction seemed to keep the discussion focused on the real world issues.</p>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017723690">paper</a>, a colleague and I discovered that researchers are using science fiction to provide a common ground for engaging with the public across a wide range of disciplines.</p>
<p>This is especially the case in science education, advocacy and research. Fiction appears to be an excellent medium for education and advocacy because it gives us humanistic ways of thinking about new and challenging scientific subjects.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181920/original/file-20170814-16686-31uijp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181920/original/file-20170814-16686-31uijp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181920/original/file-20170814-16686-31uijp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181920/original/file-20170814-16686-31uijp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181920/original/file-20170814-16686-31uijp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181920/original/file-20170814-16686-31uijp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181920/original/file-20170814-16686-31uijp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181920/original/file-20170814-16686-31uijp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">(Left to right) Ruth (Keira Knightley), Kathy (Carey Mulligan) and
Tommy (Andrew Garfield) in the film Never Let Me Go: are they people or spare parts?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMBD</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Science fiction can <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/507784/summary">personalise the horror</a> of a wealthy elite cloning children as living breathing organ donors, as depicted in Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel <a href="http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/never-let-me-go/summary.html">Never Let Me Go</a>.</p>
<p>The 1982 film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/">Blade Runner</a>, based on Philip K. Dick’s novel <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7082.Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep_">Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep</a>, is used to <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=HAma4m3w38EC&oi=fnd&pg=PA32&dq=existential+blade+runner&ots=nXSl2DFp0C&sig=rqx1OfbpCjKBEcENQYYyb0xReQQ#v=onepage&q=existential%20blade%20runner&f=false">make us question what it is to be human</a>.</p>
<p>Researchers even argue that our <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/0591-2385.1291998129/abstract">fear and fascination</a> of intelligent machines originates from discovering <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2007.00883.x/abstract">a new form of God</a>. Our questions about science can be based on future fact, fiction, or even matters of faith.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182722/original/file-20170821-27207-1gb9mkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182722/original/file-20170821-27207-1gb9mkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182722/original/file-20170821-27207-1gb9mkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182722/original/file-20170821-27207-1gb9mkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182722/original/file-20170821-27207-1gb9mkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182722/original/file-20170821-27207-1gb9mkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182722/original/file-20170821-27207-1gb9mkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182722/original/file-20170821-27207-1gb9mkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Blade Runner,
Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) falls for Rachael (Sean Young), a genetically engineered artificial human.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/">IMDB</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On a more prosaic level, science fiction is used in educational practice – whether it’s taking examples from Isaac Asimov’s story collection <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41804.I_Robot">I, Robot</a> to help emerging scientists to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S875546151000099X">develop better technical writing skills</a> or <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1476-8070.2004.00383.x/abstract">inspiring a curriculum for design education</a>. The related genre of fantasy fiction has been used to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921311002444">engage school children with astronomy</a> through C.S. Lewis’s Narnia chronicles, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. </p>
<p>As tools to support education, engagement and advocacy, we should not be shy of taking advantage of the popularity and accessibility of science fiction and fantasy.</p>
<h2>Scientists in science fiction</h2>
<p>Science fiction exploded in popularity <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/science-fiction">towards the end of the 1920s</a> when it became a staple of pulp fiction magazines. From early on, some authors <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=XxTSJcvYJYQC&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=MICHELISM&source=bl&ots=uQVaIpWkPu&sig=6XkORDpIUaxs1bl-yPN8CUDw4ZA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiwv4SJ2efVAhWIXLwKHbwmCCAQ6AEIVjAO#v=onepage&q=MICHELISM&f=false">aspired to utopian ideals</a> and a better future for humankind, which is what science is about as well.</p>
<p>Over the years there have been plenty of scientists who have also engaged in science fiction, including Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Fred Hoyle, Geoffrey Landis and Carl Sagan.</p>
<p>The tradition of the writers with science backgrounds is very much alive today, and the technical writer Ted Chiang has had fictional stories published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v436/n7047/full/436150a.html">Nature</a>. Chiang’s work is a series of thought experiments that provide human perspectives on significant scientific questions.</p>
<p>His hard-science based, but accessible science fiction successfully made it to the big screen in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/">Arrival</a> (2016), one of the more cerebral science fiction films of recent years, and one of the highest rated by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/criticreviews">critics and viewers</a> alike.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tFMo3UJ4B4g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Arrival: Linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) putting a human face to the fourth dimension.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Science fiction is very popular, both in writing and on film, and has gradually shifted from a literature of <a href="http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/abstracts/a13.htm">young men</a> in the 1950s and 1960s to a more general appeal today. Respondents to my own 2015-16 <a href="https://research.jcu.edu.au/researchdata/default/detail/b70643c7bcb28c296319ea126b78993c/">survey</a> of science fiction consumers were 54% female and representative of all age groups.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-flying-cars-science-fact-or-science-fiction-76701">The future of flying cars: science fact or science fiction?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Consumers of science fiction today share characteristics with the population in general, and are very interested in science. This provides researchers with a tremendous opportunity to engage a broader public with their work. </p>
<p>Science fiction has become so familiar as a tool for explaining science that NASA is helping <a href="http://www.outerplaces.com/science-fiction/item/3292-nasa-scientists-team-up-with-sci-fi-writers-for-nasa-inspired-book-series">fiction writers and filmmakers</a> on works such as author William Forstchen’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17910106-pillar-to-the-sky">Pillar to the Sky</a>, and the films <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2051879/">Europa Report</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/">Gravity</a> (both 2013).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101413/original/image-20151110-5460-xk6dmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101413/original/image-20151110-5460-xk6dmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101413/original/image-20151110-5460-xk6dmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101413/original/image-20151110-5460-xk6dmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101413/original/image-20151110-5460-xk6dmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101413/original/image-20151110-5460-xk6dmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101413/original/image-20151110-5460-xk6dmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101413/original/image-20151110-5460-xk6dmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mark Watney (Matt Damon) really did have a little help from NASA in the The Martian when he said: ‘I’m gonna have to science the shit out of this.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">20th Century Fox</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>NASA also <a href="http://www.popsci.com.au/space/space-travel/why-nasa-helped-ridley-scott-create-the-martian-film-,408227">gave technical advice</a> to makers of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/">The Martian</a> (2015) to make sure many of the film’s <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/nine-real-nasa-technologies-in-the-martian">technologies depicted were real</a>.</p>
<p>This demonstrates how NASA thinks science fiction can inspire people about science, and it has been argued that science fiction can influence the <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0306312709338325">direction in which science takes us</a>. </p>
<p>Perhaps one day science fiction might lose its ability to inspire wonder, but for now the public engagement opportunities it offers researchers are unmatched.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50249/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Recipient of an Australian Commonwealth scholarship to support his PhD studies, which are focused on how science fiction reflects the societal and cultural interests, attitudes and concerns of its time.</span></em></p>He’s back! Any mention of the killer robots debate brings images of the Terminator film. But science fiction can be a useful tool to get people interested in the real issues in science.Christopher Benjamin Menadue, PhD Candidate, Literature and Society, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/597252016-06-02T01:04:03Z2016-06-02T01:04:03ZBeyond Asimov: how to plan for ethical robots<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124990/original/image-20160602-23298-1yjtd25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An ethical robot – as science fiction.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/exoduz/3779592205/">exo_duz/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As robots become integrated into society more widely, we need to be sure they’ll behave well among us. In 1942, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov attempted to lay out a philosophical and moral framework for ensuring robots serve humanity, and guarding against their becoming destructive overlords. This effort resulted in what became known as Asimov’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics">Three Laws of Robotics</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li>A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.</li>
<li>A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.</li>
<li>A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.</li>
</ol>
<p>Today, more than 70 years after Asimov’s first attempt, we have much more experience with robots, including having them drive us around, at least under good conditions. We are approaching the time when robots in our daily lives will be making decisions about how to act. Are Asimov’s Three Laws good enough to guide robot behavior in our society, or should we find ways to improve on them?</p>
<h2>Asimov knew they weren’t perfect</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124991/original/image-20160602-23261-p3mglb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124991/original/image-20160602-23261-p3mglb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124991/original/image-20160602-23261-p3mglb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124991/original/image-20160602-23261-p3mglb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124991/original/image-20160602-23261-p3mglb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=870&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124991/original/image-20160602-23261-p3mglb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=870&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124991/original/image-20160602-23261-p3mglb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=870&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AIsaac_Asimov_on_Throne.png">Rowena Morrill/GFDL</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot">Asimov’s “I, Robot” stories</a> explore a number of unintended consequences and downright failures of the Three Laws. In these early stories, the Three Laws are treated as forces with varying strengths, which can have unintended equilibrium behaviors, as in the stories “Runaround” and “Catch that Rabbit,” requiring human ingenuity to resolve. In the story “Liar!,” a telepathic robot, motivated by the First Law, tells humans what they want to hear, failing to foresee the greater harm that will result when the truth comes out. The robopsychologist Susan Calvin forces it to confront this dilemma, destroying its positronic brain. </p>
<p>In “Escape!,” Susan Calvin depresses the strength of the First Law enough to allow a super-intelligent robot to design a faster-than-light interstellar transportation method, even though it causes the deaths (but only temporarily!) of human pilots. In “The Evitable Conflict,” the machines that control the world’s economy interpret the First Law as protecting all humanity, not just individual human beings. This foreshadows <a href="http://asimov.wikia.com/wiki/Foundation_and_Earth">Asimov’s later introduction</a> of the “Zeroth Law” that can supersede the original three, potentially allowing a robot to harm a human being for humanity’s greater good.
<br><br>
0. A robot may not harm humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124046/original/image-20160525-25209-sgeji4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124046/original/image-20160525-25209-sgeji4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124046/original/image-20160525-25209-sgeji4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124046/original/image-20160525-25209-sgeji4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124046/original/image-20160525-25209-sgeji4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124046/original/image-20160525-25209-sgeji4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124046/original/image-20160525-25209-sgeji4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124046/original/image-20160525-25209-sgeji4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asimov’s laws are in a particular order, for good reason.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://xkcd.com/1613/">Randall Munroe/xkcd</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Robots without ethics</h2>
<p>It is reasonable to fear that, without ethical constraints, robots (or other artificial intelligences) could do great harm, perhaps to the entire human race, even by simply <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/superintelligence-9780199678112?cc=us&lang=en&">following their human-given instructions</a>.</p>
<p>The 1991 movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/">“Terminator 2: Judgment Day”</a> begins with a well-known science fiction scenario: an AI system called Skynet starts a nuclear war and almost destroys the human race. Deploying Skynet was a rational decision (it had a “perfect operational record”). Skynet “begins to learn at a geometric rate,” scaring its creators, who try to shut it down. Skynet fights back (as a critical defense system, it was undoubtedly programmed to defend itself). Skynet finds an unexpected solution to its problem (through creative problem solving, unconstrained by common sense or morality).</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4DQsG3TKQ0I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Catastrophe results from giving too much power to artificial intelligence.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Less apocalyptic real-world examples of out-of-control AI have actually taken place. High-speed automated trading systems have responded to unusual conditions in the stock market, creating a positive feedback cycle resulting in a “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/mini-flash-crash-trading-anomalies-on-manic-monday-hit-small-investors/2015/08/26/6bdc57b0-4c22-11e5-bfb9-9736d04fc8e4_story.html">flash crash</a>.” Fortunately, only billions of dollars were lost, rather than billions of lives, but the computer systems involved have little or no understanding of the difference.</p>
<h2>Toward defining robot ethics</h2>
<p>While no simple fixed set of mechanical rules will ensure ethical behavior, we can make some observations about <a href="https://web.eecs.umich.edu/%7Ekuipers/research/pubs/Kuipers-sss-16.html">properties that a moral and ethical system should have</a> in order to allow autonomous agents (people, robots or whatever) to live well together. Many of these elements are already expected of human beings.</p>
<p>These properties are inspired by a number of sources including
the <a href="https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/research/ourportfolio/themes/engineering/activities/principlesofrobotics/">Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Principles of Robotics</a> and
recent work on the cognitive science of morality and ethics focused on
<a href="http://thepenguinpress.com/book/moral-tribes-emotion-reason-and-the-gap-between-us-and-them/">neuroscience</a>,
<a href="http://knopfdoubleday.com/book/73535/the-righteous-mind/">social psychology</a>,
<a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/209404/just-babies-by-paul-bloom/9780307886859/">developmental psychology</a> and
<a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo17322899.html">philosophy</a>.</p>
<p>The EPSRC takes the position that robots are simply tools, for which humans must take responsibility. At the extreme other end of the spectrum is the concern that <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/superintelligence-9780199678112?cc=us&lang=en&">super-intelligent, super-powerful robots</a> could suddenly emerge and control the destiny of the human race, for better or for worse. The following list defines a middle ground, describing how future intelligent robots should learn, like children do, how to behave according to the standards of our society. </p>
<ul>
<li>If robots (and other AIs) increasingly participate in our society, then they will need to follow moral and ethical rules much as people
do. Some rules are embodied in laws against killing, stealing, lying and driving on the wrong side of the street. Others are less formal but nonetheless important, like being helpful and cooperative when the opportunity arises.</li>
<li>Some situations require a quick moral judgment and response – for example, a child running into traffic or the opportunity to pocket a dropped wallet. Simple rules can provide automatic real-time response, when there is no time for deliberation and a cost-benefit analysis. (Someday, robots may reach human-level intelligence while operating far faster than human thought, allowing careful deliberation in milliseconds, but that day has not yet arrived, and it may be far in the future.)</li>
<li>A quick response may not always be the right one, which may be recognized after feedback from others or careful personal reflection. Therefore, the agent must be able to learn from experience including feedback and deliberation, resulting in new and improved rules.</li>
<li>To benefit from feedback from others in society, the robot must be able to explain and justify its decisions about ethical actions, and to understand explanations and critiques from others.</li>
<li>Given that an artificial intelligence learns from its mistakes, we must be very cautious about how much power we give it. We humans must ensure that it has experienced a sufficient range of situations and has satisfied us with its responses, earning our trust. The critical mistake humans made with Skynet in “Terminator 2” was handing over control of the nuclear arsenal.</li>
<li>Trust, and trustworthiness, must be earned by the robot. Trust is earned slowly, through extensive experience, but can be lost quickly, through a single bad decision.</li>
<li>As with a human, any time a robot acts, the selection of that action in that situation sends a signal to the rest of society about how that agent makes decisions, and therefore how trustworthy it is.</li>
<li>A robot mind is software, which can be backed up, restored if the original is damaged or destroyed, or duplicated in another body. If robots of a certain kind are exact duplicates of each other, then trust may not need to be earned individually. Trust earned (or lost) by one robot could be shared by other robots of the same kind.</li>
<li>Behaving morally and well toward others is not the same as taking moral responsibility. Only competent adult humans can take full responsibility for their actions, but we expect children, animals, corporations, and robots to behave well to the best of their abilities.</li>
</ul>
<p>Human morality and ethics are learned by children over years, but the nature of morality and ethics itself varies with the society and evolves over decades and centuries. No simple fixed set of moral rules, whether Asimov’s Three Laws or the Ten Commandments, can be adequate guidance for humans or robots in our complex society and world. Through observations like the ones above, we are beginning to understand the complex feedback-driven learning process that leads to morality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Kuipers is primarily a professor. He spends a small amount of time as an advisor for Vicarious.com, for which he receives a small amount of money and stock. He hopes that they (like other readers) will benefit intellectually from this article, but recognizes that they are unlikely to benefit financially. He has received a number of research grants from government and industry, none directly on this topic. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). He has also taken public positions and signed statements opposing the use of lethal force by robots, and describing his own decision not to take military funding for his research.</span></em></p>We are approaching the time when robots in our daily lives will be making decisions about how to act. What guidelines should we give them?Benjamin Kuipers, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/418602015-07-08T05:24:19Z2015-07-08T05:24:19ZReview: Terminator Genisys and the mind-bending world of alternative history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87641/original/image-20150707-1291-10037rl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Back with a bang.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.image.net/xads/actions/layout/preview.do?asset=256883558&fromPage=search">Paramount Pictures</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Franchise reboots using alternative time lines are currently all the rage, blurring the lines between sequels and prequels on screens across the globe. JJ Abrams’ 2009 <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2009/apr/30/jj-abrams-star-trek-character-guide">Star Trek</a> is both an alternative time line prequel to the original and a sequel to 2002’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C02E1D9133AF930A25751C1A9649C8B63">Nemesis</a>. Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=138033">X-Men: Days of Future Past</a> is something of a reboot of 2000’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B02E1DE163BF937A25754C0A9669C8B63">X-Men</a>, and a sequel to 2011’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/02/x-men-first-class-review">X-Men: First Class</a> prequel. This can get confusing. Lacking a catchy term for alternative reality sequels and prequels, let’s call them “alterequels”.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/05/terminator-genisys-arnold-schwarzenegger-emilia-clarke-review-mark-kermode">Terminator Genisys</a> takes the alterequel to a whole new level. Having your alterequel deliberately contradict its original source is one thing: but Terminator Genisys lands slap-bang in the middle of its source, and blows it all away. After a prologue set in 2029, Genisys revisits the original T-800 Terminator’s nude landing in 1984. But this time around, another T-800 (played by an older and fully-clothed Arnold) shows up and biffs its past self. Rather than Kyle Reese rescue Sarah – as in the original <a href="http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=132648">Terminator</a> film – this time Sarah rescues Kyle. Not the original Sarah, either, but an alternative Sarah who was orphaned by one Terminator and raised by another. </p>
<p>Much alterequel hullabaloo ensues. Skynet – humanity’s artificially-intelligent nemesis – now seeks birth in 2017 via the oddly-spelled (and vaguely-described) “Genisys” app. The usually formless antagonist even has its own body in 2029. A liquid-metal T-1000 – originally sent back to 1995 in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/21/terminator-judgement-day-cameron">Terminator 2: Judgment Day</a> – turns up in 1984, while 2017 boasts a nanomachine-Terminator, which changes into fog when roused. Adding to the chaos, each of the settings – 2029, 1984 and 2017 – has its own time machine. </p>
<h2>Time laws</h2>
<p>Time travel fiction offers you three options: either you can have one constrained history, many histories or one contradictory history. In the first option, you can go back in time, but you’ll find that there are some things you cannot do there: for instance, you won’t be able to kill your grandfather, because that causes a logical paradox. The second option will allow you to travel to a time which is different to your own, but not necessarily back in time: so, instead of landing earlier in your own history, you’ll end up in an alternative reality. </p>
<p>Both of these options are logically consistent; one and the same world never contains anyone who is both alive and dead at the same time. In contrast, the third option allows you to travel back in your own history, over-write events and laugh at logic as you go. Inconsistent though it may be, this option seems to fit Terminator Genisys best. But fiction notwithstanding, it’s worth examining if any of this has a factual basis. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/62E4FJTwSuc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Terminator Genisys trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, ultimately, Genisys is fantasy with a light dusting of references to “quantum fields”. But physicists have actually speculated that later events can not only affect past events (consistently help make them what they were) but can even over-write them (inconsistently make them different from what they were). Unfortunately for Genisys, though, scientists overwhelmingly favour the “one constrained history” or “many histories” options. </p>
<p>The former received a big boost of support, following some <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.2615">remarkable results</a> in <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/view/419893/quantum-time-machine-solves-grandfather-paradox/">“postselection” quantum tunnelling modelling</a>, which eliminates problems like the grandfather paradox. And no less a person than <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bell-theorem/">John S Bell</a> (of “Bell’s Inequality” fame) <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/physics/quantum-physics-quantum-information-and-quantum-computation/speakable-and-unspeakable-quantum-mechanics-collected-papers-quantum-philosophy-2nd-edition">suggested that</a> – if we accept <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/parallel-universe2.htm">the idea</a> that there are many worlds with different histories – then “there is no association of the particular present with any particular past”. If this is the case, then perhaps no event is final or safe – in theory, it may all be flux. </p>
<h2>Indiscriminate flux</h2>
<p>Aspirant history changers beware though: there may be no way to control or predict what shape which any revised history takes. Human or cyborg, physics will likely treat you as just one more object in the flux. Unsurprisingly, time travel stories usually make their point-of-view characters the people who make changes to history, rather than those who suffer them. Try picturing what historical deletion might feel like for the deleted: it’s difficult to imagine what, if anything, is it like to be made such that you never were. </p>
<p>But once inconsistency gets in, it’s difficult to correct: maybe revisions to events never end, and everything is provisional. If you are (even partly) what befalls you, and what befalls you is fluid, maybe you’re fluid too. I devoutly hope that reality follows consistent rules, but perhaps history, identity and consistency are just local. A classic Zen parable suggests that when we see a flag blowing in the wind, neither wind moves nor flag moves – rather, mind moves. Maybe we should conclude that neither human moves nor T-800 moves but rather, mind moves: from Terminator to Zen via quantum physics?</p>
<p>Overall, this new incarnation improves markedly on the third and fourth Terminator films, which wobbled between graveyard slapstick and Christian Bale’s grumpy stubble. But alterequels threaten diminishing returns – as a <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/terminator-genisys-opening-weekend-2015-7?r=US">shaky first weekend</a> at the box office can testify. Genisys’ Skynet taunts its enemies that its existence is inevitable, and it may be right – at least, fictionally speaking. A slightly perfunctory mid-credit sequence ensures that Genisys well and truly clears the way for any future films. While cinema can remould fictional histories ad infinitum, audience patience may be finite. The worry is that history-changing franchises will start to seem (forgive me) interminable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41860/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alasdair Richmond received funding 2009-10 from the British Academy Arts and Humanities Research Board (reference AH/G004080/1) to pursue a project entitled ‘Time Travel for Philosophers’.</span></em></p>The latest Terminator film marks a recovery from its predecessors, but it’s treatment of time travel is still implausible.Alasdair Richmond, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, The University of EdinburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/443022015-07-07T20:08:41Z2015-07-07T20:08:41ZWhy do fans love Schwarzenegger? His terrible one-liners, of course<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87445/original/image-20150706-17506-1n3outq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Where does 'I'm old, not obsolete' fit into the Arnold Schwarzenegger pantheon of well-delivered cheese?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Yonhap News Agency</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s been just over three decades since <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/?ref_=ttmi_tt">The Terminator</a> (1984), wherein Arnold Schwarzenegger first declared “I’ll be back”. In the latest chapter in the franchise, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340138/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Terminator: Genisys</a> (2015), he continues to make good on his promise. He’s back (again) – and he has a new catchphrase: “I’m old, not obsolete.” Not his most menacing one-liner, is it? Even Bill Shorten could do better! Doesn’t it sound a little pathetic, even laughable? </p>
<p>But laughable, ridiculous one-liners have always been part of Schwarzenegger’s Hollywood career. He came to prominence as a prolific world champion in bodybuilding. His impressive physique was his ticket to stardom. </p>
<p>It landed him his first big role as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816462/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Conan the Barbarian</a> in 1982 and then as the Terminator two years later. Schwarzenegger was one of several muscle-bound action stars to emerge in the 1980s. The dominant physical profile of the action hero – tall, slim figures of grizzled masculinity such as Clint Eastwood or John Wayne – gave way in the 80s and early 90s to a more muscular frame. </p>
<p>Film scholar Susan Jeffords – in her 1994 book Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era – <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Hard_Bodies.html?id=7nERHha7TZUC&source=kp_cover&hl=en">links the emergence</a> of these “hard bodies” to the socio-cultural climate of the time. The Reagan presidency, American ascendancy in the wake of the crumbling USSR, the reputed weakness of the previous Carter administration and popular obsession with fitness all contributed to Hollywood heroes transitioning into big, muscular metaphors for a reinvigorated United States. </p>
<p>While his bodybuilder’s physique was important for embodying larger than life, “All-American” action heroes, what made Schwarzenegger distinctive was his peculiar vocal performances in those roles. American action films often employ the wisecrack, the one-liner, or the pun after dispatching an enemy in a particularly creative way. But the vocalisations are invariably performed with an American accent, delivered with the confidence and fidelity of a native English speaker. </p>
<p>Where do we place Schwarzenegger in this tradition? Film and Women’s Studies scholar Chris Holmlund – in her book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Bodies-Femininity-Masculinity-Comedia/dp/0415185769">Impossible Bodies: Femininity and Masculinity at the Movies</a> (2002) – suggests Arnie’s accent ensures a perception of “foreign ethnicity” that “is a plus in a country where, for the first time since 1930, one in ten people is now foreign born”. But one wonders whether this can fully account for Schwarzenegger’s mass appeal, particularly outside of the United States.</p>
<p>His heavily-accented delivery of snappy, pun-filled dialogue is often not quite right, just a little askew. The cadence or the inflection is frequently off. This, coupled with his generally low register, constantly reminds us we are watching Schwarzenegger rather than the character he is supposed to be playing. </p>
<p>This paradoxical demand to be the quintessential American hero while sounding “less American” than any of the other contenders is part of what endears him to his fans. It’s a sort of unintentional subversion of the Hollywood action hero. This appreciation for that artificiality is especially evident on the internet, where Arnold’s cumbersome vocal performances can be enjoyed with a kind of camp appreciation.</p>
<p>To be clear, camp, first popularised in Susan Sontag’s essay <a href="http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Sontag-NotesOnCamp-1964.html">Notes on Camp</a> (1964), is a term that suggests an ironic devotion to heightened, over-the-top style or artificial emotion – cultural product that is just “too much” or excessive, not measured or austere or subtle.</p>
<p>It has historically been associated with pop cultural icons adored by gay men (think Judy Garland), but the internet has enabled camp to become a far more common way of approaching culture. Many <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-are-memes-20789">memes</a>, quizzes, listicles, and “content” encourage an ironic perspective on celebrity and pop culture that’s awfully close to camp. Perhaps because of the association with homosexuality, camp has rarely been applied to action film, a notoriously heteronormative genre. But Schwarzenegger’s films tick all the boxes: over-the-top, heightened and artificial emotion, “style” over substance. So it’s no wonder this sensibility carries over into <a href="http://www.thearnoldfans.com/">fandoms online</a>.</p>
<p>Online fan activities that engage with Schwarzenegger’s vocal performances can be grouped into two broad tendencies: imitation and reiteration. Imitation is obvious enough. People on YouTube, and other platforms that allow recording, produce their impersonations of Arnold. There are even tutorials on “how to do Arnold”:</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ohIFpRPNIb0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Reiteration is where most of my research has been focused, and includes video montages of Schwarzenegger’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDxn0Xfqkgw">greatest quotes</a> as well as soundboard pranks. These are prank calls that are made using a selection of voice clips recorded from movies onto what is known as a soundboard, which the prankster uses to interact with a victim on the other end of the phone line. </p>
<p>These soundboard pranks are accompanied by a montage of images from Schwarzenegger’s films and other media stills, usually with him pulling an amusing facial expression or looking ridiculous: </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kkxYao1kkKI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Much of the “comedy” of these pranks derives from taking Schwarzenegger’s dialogue out of its cinematic context and re-purposing it to bizarre ends. These pranksters find a kind of nefarious joy in subjecting people on the other side of the phone to the strange directions Arnold’s recorded responses can take the conversation. </p>
<p>Another practice that can produce strange results is the phenomenon of Arnold-themed Twitter accounts. One of the most interesting was an <a href="https://twitter.com/111001001101010">automated tweet bot</a> from a few years ago that scanned all of Twitter for account names that began with or included “Sarah Conner” or some similar variation. </p>
<p>The entire Twitter feed of this account was the bot simply asking every one of these accounts “Sarah Conner?”, referencing the first Terminator film where Schwarzenegger’s character goes to the house of every Sarah Conner in the phonebook and executes each woman after asking for them by name.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87431/original/image-20150706-17490-1qsxfyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87431/original/image-20150706-17490-1qsxfyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87431/original/image-20150706-17490-1qsxfyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87431/original/image-20150706-17490-1qsxfyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87431/original/image-20150706-17490-1qsxfyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87431/original/image-20150706-17490-1qsxfyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87431/original/image-20150706-17490-1qsxfyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Twitter.</span>
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<p>In his book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219853.Textual_Poachers">Texual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture</a> (1992), American media scholar Henry Jenkins described this kind of behaviour as"<a href="http://fantexts.blogspot.com.au/2010/06/what-is-textual-poaching.html">textual poaching</a>.“ Fans appropriate aspects of their favoured texts and will redeploy them in various interesting ways. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s online fans have his prolific filmography to play with, but seem especially preoccupied with textually poaching aspects of his vocal performance.</p>
<p>This would seem to suggest that for most fans of Arnie, and despite much commentary focused on his "hard body,” his voice is paramount. For many of his fans, it doesn’t seem to matter how old and obsolete his once fantastic body becomes. He’ll be appreciated and celebrated as long as he can say things like “I’ll be back,” or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzJpfUZ2Jp4">my personal favourite</a>, from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088944/?ref_=ttqt_qt_tt">Commando</a> (1985): </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I eat Green Berets for breakfast and right now I’m VERY hungry.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44302/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Sini does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While his bodybuilder’s physique was important for embodying larger than life, “All-American” action heroes, what makes Schwarzenegger distinctive is his peculiar vocal performances in these roles.Matthew Sini, Lecturer in Media and Communications, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/347262014-11-27T06:20:20Z2014-11-27T06:20:20ZNew William Gibson novel revives his 1980s cyberpunk vision<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65625/original/image-20141126-4240-4e5ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After a decade in almost pure thriller fiction, the Neuromancer creator returns to his roots</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&searchterm=cyberpunk&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=137265314">Ociacia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You might almost have thought there was nothing much more for science fiction to say about avatars or time travel. As far back as 1992, years before anyone had thought of <a href="http://secondlife.com">Second Life</a>, the US writer Neil Stephenson imagined in his novel <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/830.Snow_Crash">Snow Crash</a> a future of user-controlled beings in a virtual reality internet. And you don’t have to go much further than new blockbuster movie Interstellar or the latest series of Doctor Who for your latest time travel fix. </p>
<p>Yet William Gibson has managed to come up with a unique way of meshing them together for his 11th novel. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/19/the-peripheral-william-gibson-ride-future">The Peripheral</a> is set in two worlds: one is a few decades into the US future, where the global economy has gone from the current downturn to a long-term full-blown depression. It is inhabited by Flynne Fisher, who assembles products in a 3D-printing outlet in a world that has become an unsupervised playground for such goods (to misquote a Gibson line from his <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/28/william-gibson-neuromancer-cyberpunk-books">1984 classic Neuromancer</a>). </p>
<p>There exists a device that allows a kind of time travel by avatar which allows Flynne to explore world number two – set 70 years further into the future. In that world, avatars like hers are walking and talking beings known as peripherals. Flynne’s avatar witnesses a murder that takes her on an adventure with Wilf Netherton, a failed London-based celebrity publicist who exists in real-time there. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65626/original/image-20141126-4225-1gfwnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65626/original/image-20141126-4225-1gfwnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65626/original/image-20141126-4225-1gfwnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65626/original/image-20141126-4225-1gfwnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65626/original/image-20141126-4225-1gfwnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65626/original/image-20141126-4225-1gfwnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65626/original/image-20141126-4225-1gfwnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65626/original/image-20141126-4225-1gfwnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arnie old iron.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenjavier/5686295324/">Loren Javier</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Uniquely, The Peripheral offers up the idea that through cyborg avatars, a past and a future can communicate and interact. This story goes beyond the well worn theme of the [Terminator franchise](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminator_(franchise), where people from the future travelled back in time to change things that were destroying their world. Instead The Peripheral offers up a premise where old and new technology remain able to interface. </p>
<h2>Further futures</h2>
<p>This puts sci-fi’s great innovator back into the territory in which he made his name with Neuromancer and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dzp3s">Burning Chrome</a>. Set in a far-flung future where people could interact with sensor technology, it anticipated the internet and invented the whole idea of cyberpunk as a sub-genre of science fiction – Neuromancer was that important. </p>
<p>With the likes of Interstellar, The Peripheral also represents a return by leading sci-fi writers to a fascination with the more distant future and alternate realities. It is also a reminder of what is out of favour. There are not many alien-monster types around at the moment, at least once you look beyond the likes of Prometheus or the Predator franchise. </p>
<p>Gibson’s last three novels were more thriller with a dash of science fiction than cyberpunk. Pattern Recognition (2003), Spook Country (2007) and Zero History (2010) – collectively the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/50543-blue-ant">Blue Ant trilogy</a> – were set much closer to the present day than his seminal 1980s work. </p>
<h2>Swooshes and 3D drugs</h2>
<p>What The Peripheral shares with them is a willingness to take current issues or technological advances and explore where they will take us. In Pattern Recognition, for example, the proliferation of advertising and the primacy assumed by certain commercial logos such as the Nike swoosh or the Macintosh apple morph into a disease of images. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65629/original/image-20141126-4234-lvu9dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65629/original/image-20141126-4234-lvu9dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65629/original/image-20141126-4234-lvu9dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65629/original/image-20141126-4234-lvu9dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65629/original/image-20141126-4234-lvu9dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65629/original/image-20141126-4234-lvu9dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65629/original/image-20141126-4234-lvu9dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65629/original/image-20141126-4234-lvu9dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">William Gibson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/80565261@N00/15201012804/in/photolist-jWVJbo-c4Prv-c4PsC-c4Ps7-pagavE-aqNBT6-4YXz4c-xqmKA-33YJon-bMjfQ6-bMjgee-bypzLU-4J51ZA-8LvZpv-7P7FeN-bba6Bn-2AbW6a-bypAaS-bypAY7-bypBd5-bMjgoc-bypzE1-bMjhVz-7eHRAJ-4Xxqps-gLn1d-aVXDcr-2ztK71-7dguup-2q6DoS-76En59-7dgusk-2BsxFK-vJXg7-3chqi3-bypAxb-bMjh2R-bypB6h-bMjgL8-bypAPS-bypAhY-bMjhEF-bypBs9-Bsxd8-2AuU54-bbhLkT-5ZNn-7P7Feu-axkiS3-2BqZNX">Gilly Youner</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All three of the Blue Ant novels are also concerned with the theft, storage and ownership of information. The quest in Pattern Recognition concerned the makers of mysterious digital film footage. The information in Zero History is related to secret clothing patterns and ghost brands. And in Spook Country, the iPod is re-imagined as a simple drive to carry information in a big shift from its early-adopter tech toy beginnings. </p>
<p>The Peripheral echoes this focus on contemporary themes both in its views on the economic future and its focus on 3D products. A world of such products has been explored elsewhere, such as in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/dec/07/cory-doctorow-makers-interview">Cory Doctorow’s Makers</a>, which imagined a post-recession economy of “new work” where nearly everyone becomes involved with this means of production. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://d3v4sx4i2y2qe1.cloudfront.net/pg/main.php?g2_itemId=425&g2_imageViewsIndex=0">talk at</a> the Edinburgh Book Festival in 2011, Doctorow queried what would happen “when people start printing anatomically correct Barbies, sex toys or solid-state meth labs.” The world inhabited by Flynne in The Peripheral suggests that is what has occurred: her region is rife with “builders” of drugs, in the absence of virtually any form of traditional industry. </p>
<h2>Talented echoes of Ripley</h2>
<p>The Peripheral, as with all of Gibson’s work, is filled with remarkably imagined moments. Flynne, inhabiting a cyborg form in Wilf’s future, has this experience when she views two famous Picassos in a private home: “she was facing two large paintings she’d been seeing on screens all her life.” The work of art in the age of digital reproduction becomes the experience of seeing the real thing in the future. </p>
<p>Flynne is the protagonist Gibson’s cyberpunk needs. I enjoyed Cayce Pollard and Hollis Henry from the Blue Ant books, but they are glamorous citizens of the world. Flynne is neither femme fatale nor action hero but a working-class some-time gamer who has more in common with the characters in Cory Doctorow’s gold-farming novel <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7241373-for-the-win">For the Win</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65630/original/image-20141126-4248-10xu99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65630/original/image-20141126-4248-10xu99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65630/original/image-20141126-4248-10xu99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65630/original/image-20141126-4248-10xu99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65630/original/image-20141126-4248-10xu99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65630/original/image-20141126-4248-10xu99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65630/original/image-20141126-4248-10xu99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65630/original/image-20141126-4248-10xu99s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Never mind the Bullock!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lafuria/10830655414/in/photolist-76t7BY-8Fe13A-8FTgJH-76RKpR-7gQRsM-76udY3-79oZTn-79oZPr-6X8ESW-ck9M95-6LqHm1-6LmywP-6LqHbW-4J6H5J-4J6HnQ-4J2tKn-eyo8jW-hv4Wwb-537AE6-53bRMQ-6LqH2C-537CoR-53bRy5-53bRnd-537CWi-53bU3A-53bT3W-4J2t2i-537Bhe-537BrR-537D9i-53bRYm-53bRUA-53bSzN-537Bn2-537CbB-537BKi-537CRt-53bTjC-537CKX-537Bc2-537BSV-53bS4s-53bTD5-537Asi-ffNm4N-bkajsj-4Y1TrS-jkmBq-9nN5MP">Mariana Rojas</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>“I’m just a normal fucking person” she exclaims at one point. Flynne is as satisfyingly capable as Ellen Ripley in the first Alien film. This is perhaps the highest compliment I can offer for a female protagonist in the sci-fi genre. For this alone, the novel is worth reading.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34726/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Artt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>You might almost have thought there was nothing much more for science fiction to say about avatars or time travel. As far back as 1992, years before anyone had thought of Second Life, the US writer Neil…Sarah Artt, Lecturer in English and Film, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.