Terminator and Philosophy: I'll Be Back, Therefore I Am by William Irwin, Kevin S. Decker, Richard Brown Page A
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reentering society after any traumatic incident.
Sarah’s problem is not that she lives in a world with no vehicle to “purify” or “cleanse” her contamination. Instead, Sarah’s problem stems from the fact that her society does not recognize her as a warrior who has experienced trauma. This refusal on the part of society results in Sarah’s repeated stays in psychiatric hospitals and eventually in her fugitive status.
Sarah’s knowledge of the future makes it impossible for her to fit into normal society. So to understand her battle more fully, we turn now to the concept of simulation .
Simulated Society: Sarah in a Science Fiction World
The delusional architecture is interesting. She believes a machine called a “Terminator,” which looks human of course, was sent back through time to kill her. And also that the father of her child was a soldier, sent to protect her . . . he was from the future too.
—Dr. Silberman, Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Part of the drama in the Terminator story is that most of society functions normally, oblivious to the future threat of the machines. Not only is humanity mostly oblivious, but some humans are actually hurrying the “moment of singularity,” the moment when artificial intelligence exceeds human capability or, as John Connor puts it, the time we “kiss our asses goodbye” (SCC, “Gnothi Seauton”).
Most warriors fight in designated locations with clearly defined mission goals and a clearly identified enemy. Sarah Connor, by contrast, fights alone, yet surrounded by humans, any of whom could actually be Terminators (which can even imitate the form and voice of loved ones, as the T-101 does when it imitates her mother in The Terminator ).
To better understand Sarah’s situation, let’s look at Jean Baudrillard’s (1929-2007) concept of simulation in society. According to Baudrillard, simulation happens when we face a situation that is “hyperreal,” that is, a situation that “threatens the difference between the ‘true’ and the ‘false,’ the ‘real’ and the ‘imaginary,’ a place where signs of the real are substituted for the real.” 5 In this respect, the Connors must prove the reality of the future they have experienced through the imaginary: the Terminators. Because the Terminators, for the most part, look, talk, and act like humans, 6 the Connors face an uphill battle.
To make matters even more complicated, the Connors feel compelled to utterly destroy any evidence of the Terminators’ existence for fear that, if discovered, their technology could be reverse-engineered, thus contributing to the development of the machines that have come to destroy them. Just think of the heart-tugging scene at the end of T2 when Sarah must press the button to lower the T-101 into the boiling metal. Likewise, when Cameron does not destroy Vick’s chip, Sarah and Derek Reese immediately become suspicious of her motivations ( SCC , “Vick’s Chip”). Cameron believed that Vick, another Terminator sent back on a mission from Skynet in a type of “sleeper” mode to procure materials, might carry within his chip additional Skynet plans, which would provide the Connors with a bigger picture of the overall puzzle. As the episode continues, we see that Cameron is right. Vick’s chip does contain important information. That still does not stop Sarah from wanting the chip destroyed as soon as its usefulness is ended. The Connors fear that any residual piece of a Terminator could lead to the launch of Skynet. Thus they destroy any proof they have about the impending war against the machines.
Baudrillard writes that the world of simulation is more dangerous than the “real” world because it “always leaves open to supposition that, above and beyond its object, law and order themselves might be nothing but simulation. ” 7 Nothing better illustrates the confusion between real and imaginary safety than the shots of
Sarah’s problem is not that she lives in a world with no vehicle to “purify” or “cleanse” her contamination. Instead, Sarah’s problem stems from the fact that her society does not recognize her as a warrior who has experienced trauma. This refusal on the part of society results in Sarah’s repeated stays in psychiatric hospitals and eventually in her fugitive status.
Sarah’s knowledge of the future makes it impossible for her to fit into normal society. So to understand her battle more fully, we turn now to the concept of simulation .
Simulated Society: Sarah in a Science Fiction World
The delusional architecture is interesting. She believes a machine called a “Terminator,” which looks human of course, was sent back through time to kill her. And also that the father of her child was a soldier, sent to protect her . . . he was from the future too.
—Dr. Silberman, Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Part of the drama in the Terminator story is that most of society functions normally, oblivious to the future threat of the machines. Not only is humanity mostly oblivious, but some humans are actually hurrying the “moment of singularity,” the moment when artificial intelligence exceeds human capability or, as John Connor puts it, the time we “kiss our asses goodbye” (SCC, “Gnothi Seauton”).
Most warriors fight in designated locations with clearly defined mission goals and a clearly identified enemy. Sarah Connor, by contrast, fights alone, yet surrounded by humans, any of whom could actually be Terminators (which can even imitate the form and voice of loved ones, as the T-101 does when it imitates her mother in The Terminator ).
To better understand Sarah’s situation, let’s look at Jean Baudrillard’s (1929-2007) concept of simulation in society. According to Baudrillard, simulation happens when we face a situation that is “hyperreal,” that is, a situation that “threatens the difference between the ‘true’ and the ‘false,’ the ‘real’ and the ‘imaginary,’ a place where signs of the real are substituted for the real.” 5 In this respect, the Connors must prove the reality of the future they have experienced through the imaginary: the Terminators. Because the Terminators, for the most part, look, talk, and act like humans, 6 the Connors face an uphill battle.
To make matters even more complicated, the Connors feel compelled to utterly destroy any evidence of the Terminators’ existence for fear that, if discovered, their technology could be reverse-engineered, thus contributing to the development of the machines that have come to destroy them. Just think of the heart-tugging scene at the end of T2 when Sarah must press the button to lower the T-101 into the boiling metal. Likewise, when Cameron does not destroy Vick’s chip, Sarah and Derek Reese immediately become suspicious of her motivations ( SCC , “Vick’s Chip”). Cameron believed that Vick, another Terminator sent back on a mission from Skynet in a type of “sleeper” mode to procure materials, might carry within his chip additional Skynet plans, which would provide the Connors with a bigger picture of the overall puzzle. As the episode continues, we see that Cameron is right. Vick’s chip does contain important information. That still does not stop Sarah from wanting the chip destroyed as soon as its usefulness is ended. The Connors fear that any residual piece of a Terminator could lead to the launch of Skynet. Thus they destroy any proof they have about the impending war against the machines.
Baudrillard writes that the world of simulation is more dangerous than the “real” world because it “always leaves open to supposition that, above and beyond its object, law and order themselves might be nothing but simulation. ” 7 Nothing better illustrates the confusion between real and imaginary safety than the shots of
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