Traffic
(change your city)
San Francisco
Santa Rosa
Napa
Concord
Oakland
Livermore
Hayward
San Carlos
Palo Alto
San Jose
Fairfield
Mountain View
Monterey
-
Science fiction has long contemplated the risk that our increasingly capable computers and robots could one day decide they'd be better off without us, or using us as their energy source. Now, philosophers and scientists at Britain's Cambridge University have proposed giving the question serious thought with a new Center for the Study of Existential Risk.
"It tends to be regarded as a flaky concern, but given that we don't know how serious the risks are, that we don't know the time scale, dismissing the concerns is dangerous," Cambridge philosophy professor Huw Price told the Associated Press.
Here's a gallery of notable sci-fi examples of machines turning on humanity, starting with the "Terminator" movies, in which the Skynet computer system becomes self aware and, after operators try to shut it down, decides to take out humanity. Warning: This gallery is full of spoilers.
Photo: ANDY ROGERS, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER / SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER -
In 1984's "The Terminator," Skynet, nearly defeated, sends Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger back in time to kill the mother of resistance leader John Connor before Connor is born.
Photo: ZADE ROSENTHAL, HO / TRISTAR PICTURES -
Skynet tried again in "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," from 1991, sending back a newer model, played by Robert Patrick, to kill Connor as a boy.
Photo: Lionsgate Home Entertainment / SL -
"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," from 2003, had pretty much the same plot, but with an older Connor and female Terminator, played by Kristanna Loken. / AL -
Here are the bad robots taking over in a scene from "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."
Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures / SL -
In the "Matrix" films, the intelligent machines have taken over, turning humans into an energy source and keeping them docile in a computer simulation of the world as it was in 1999, the year the first movie in the franchise came out. The main computer enforcer within this virtual world is Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), right, shown fighting human hero Neo, played by Keanu Reeves. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures / SL -
The real world outside of the Matrix featured these deadly robotic Sentinels. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures / SL -
"2001: A Space Odyssey," made in 1968, features the HAL 9000 computer, which decides to kill everyone aboard its spaceship to head off the possibility that crewmembers might shut it down.
/ SL -
In "Alien," from 1979, the android Ash isn't necessarily trying to kill the crew of his spaceship. But his priority is preserving the life of the alien that is trying to kill them.
-
Moving forward to 1982, "Tron" featured a computer program called Master Control Program, which tries to take over the world.
Photo: Walt Disney Productions / SL -
In 1983's "War Games," Matthew Broderick's character hacks into a computer that he doesn't realize is at NORAD and starts a "game" of "Global Thermonuclear War." The computer -- WOPR (War Operation Plan Response), AKA Joshua -- isn't trying to kill anyone, per se. It just almost starts a global nuclear holocaust while trying to win the game.
Photo: MGM / SL -
Sony Pictures' 2005 flop "Stealth" featured EDI (Extreme Deep Invader), an unmanned aerial vehicle that becomes sentient and starts defying orders, with deadly consequences, before eventually coming around.
Photo: Sony Pictures / SL -
The Cylons, from "Battlestar Galactica," are a classic example of intelligent robots trying to kill us. The Cylons in the original TV show, from 1978 and 1980, had been created by a race of the same name, which then died out.
Photo: MARK RALSTON, AFP/Getty Images / 2009 AFP -
In the "Battlestar Galactica" remake, which debuted in 2003, humans created the Cylons as workers.
Photo: Network - SCI FI Channel, Photo Credit - ©Zoic Studios/SCI / Caption -
Entertainment Videos
loading...
Comments