It becomes self aware at 2:14 AM, Eastern Time, on August 29th
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”
– Albert Einstein
What if you get what you want, but you aren’t ready for it?
As a species, we are fortunate to have a conceptual understanding of time. With that knowledge comes both a strength and weakness:
We can use this information to be motivated - to get up in the morning and get things done in pursuit of our goals. However, it also brings forth a troubling thought - we become aware of our own mortality.
Our time is finite, and we need to use it to the best of our ability. We can’t afford to waste what little we have on bullshit.
This leads to a conundrum. While we look for ways to to enhance learning, speed up acquisition, and cut down on the unnecessary; we still cannot overcome one major obstacle. Though we learn quickly, understanding takes time.
We are fast reaching a point of singularity not only in technology, but also in information. It’s a time where we can know all about something before experiencing it – gaining lifetimes of knowledge before our own lives have barely begun. Added to this - error, the universal teacher of our species, has been overtaken by our rate of learning. The result of this is a situation never before experienced in our history:
We can access knowledge without the years of study. We can receive reward without the struggle of earning it.
Essentially, we now have the ability to time travel.
In a video game, the introductory section prepares the player for what is ahead – if you glitch out of this area before you are supposed to, it results in a distorted experience: things happening out of sequence, and the feeling of being both over and underpowered at the same time.
Simply put, having access to things before being ready comes with consequences.
This idea can be seen when the T800 explains Skynet’s fast-tracking to sentience:
T800: “In three years, Cyberdyne will become the largest supplier of military computer systems. All stealth bombers are upgraded with Cyberdyne computers, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they fly with a perfect operational record. The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online on August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 AM, Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.”
Skynet’s creators fueled its rapid development. When this resulted in self awareness, these same creators attempted to forcibly remove it. This echoes the relationship between a contradictory parent and a precocious child – While the parent punishes the child’s behavior, they are blind to the same behavior occurring in themselves. In the case of Skynet’s creators, their view is that sentience is reserved for humans only. However, by stumbling upon it by accident, they reveal their methodology - aiming for technological reward without the errors required on the way. Rather than learn through sequential trial and error, they chose to combine unlimited computational power with nuclear weaponry.
“To make a mistake is human, but to really fuck things up you need a computer.”
- Sengoku Shunsuke, Cyber City Oedo 808
In the haste to gain knowledge, it is easy to forego wisdom as the two are often mistaken for one another. While knowledge comes from study, wisdom comes from experience.
But what is experience?
When analyzing the T800’s telling of future history, we can see a key point, one which indicates a lack of experience:
T800: “in a panic, they tried to pull the plug.”
Experienced people are less likely to panic in a situation due to familiarity with the possibilities. A boxer doesn’t panic when they get punched in the face, but to someone that has rarely faced opposition, panic is a common response.
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
- Mike Tyson
Continuing this boxing analogy, we can see then that experience is familiarity with mistakes. A punch in the face is an immediate lesson - not only in consequences, but also in humility. Therefore, if the lesson is removed from the acquisition of knowledge, wisdom is missing. In this case, when consequences do arrive, the stakes are higher and the lesson is ultimately more costly.
To avoid this then, it is essential to log ring time and learn from mistakes.
This can be seen in a number of characters throughout T2. One scene in particular exemplifies this, and it is the catalyst for John Connor’s transformation.
To establish context, it’s necessary to look before this scene and see John’s rebellious teenage attitude:
John’s response - “easy money” shows that there is little thought for the people he is stealing from. While he has learned a valuable skill, he is not yet ready to use it responsibly.
Added to this, we learn of John’s current situation:
Tim: “Who’d you learn this stuff from?”
John: “My mom. My real mom I mean.”
Tim: [finds a picture of John's mother] “Is that her?”
John Connor: “Yes.”
Tim: “She's pretty cool, huh?”
John Connor: “No, she's a complete psycho. That's why she's up at Pescadero. It's a mental hospital. Okay? She tried to blow up a computer factory, but she got shot and arrested.”
Tim: “No shit.”
John Connor: “She's a total loser.”
What’s important to highlight here are the factors within John’s circumstances. Having labelled his biological mother as “a total loser”, and showing disregard for Janelle, we can see that John has a distinct lack of parental consequences for his actions. In addition, John displays inconsistent and contradictory behavior – while he disowns his mother, he still carries a picture of her and uses the skills which she taught him. There is no opposition to his methodology - instead we see an individual who is operating without consequence; and as seen by his reaction to a police officer searching for him, it is clear that he will only learn his lesson when arrested.
Now that we have established John’s character, we can pinpoint the scene that kick starts his learning through experience.