I just got back from watching Terminator 3 "Rise of the Machines". If you are familiar with the Terminator series, this one is a prequel...kind-of. Of course we are dealing with time travel paradoxes throughout this series so what is a sequel and a prequel is up for debate.
Overall from the perspective of an average movie-goer, this is an excellent action thriller. Just when you think Hollywood could not make a more action-packed movie here comes Terminator 3. The car chases in T3 put the Matrix Reloaded highway scene to shame. It is really the current state of the art when it comes to explosion and destruction special effects. Arnold is back and reprises the role nicely. He is tough but also very funny. Kristina Lokken is one scary TX terminator. She played the role superbly. There are a few plot holes and not much is added to the storyline from the first 2, but overall I enjoyed it.
Now to the dystopia. For those not familiar with the Terminator movie series here is the jist of it. Present day humans create a self-aware computer system and it tries to destroy the human race (similar to the Matrix series). Billions of people die. A few survive and in the future, win over the machines. The terminators are machines that are sent through time (back into the past) to try and destroy the future human leader who defeats the machines. Anyway, it is another movie warning about the perils of technology, specifically AI. But my question is, if we give up the pursuit of knowledge, what is there to live for? In the movie, a few humans survive and eventually win out over the machines, but what happens then? Do they just start over reproducing but reject technological advance this time around. This sounds a lot like the major religions of our day that warn against gaining knowledge. It is better, they say, to just have faith in god and reject knowledge of the world.
Obviously, there are dangerous technologies, or should I say technology that could be unstable or perverted for destruction and death. However, I feel we should continue to investigate, experiment, and otherwise gain more knowledge of the universe. We should just use caution as we go. Is a cautious approach possible? Is it workable?
Will we merge with our machines or will we fight them?
Edited by Mind, 13 July 2003 - 03:54 PM.