What possible use is there for inhibiting such a thing? In case the Terminator gets depressed before it has completed its mission?
shareI always thought it was some kind of "self-perpetuation insurance policy" built-in to the Terminators' programming by Skynet, in order to allow the technology to be found by human authorities in the past, so that Skynet can be sure to come about as it always has done, or continue existing.
It does make sense a Terminator couldn't kill itself. Skynet would want them to just keep killing humans.
shareIt's programmed to complete its mission. Self preservation doesn't need to be programmed except as a safeguard to ensure its mission is completed. What if self termination is necessary tactic to complete its mission?
shareI don't really see how it would be. At least not into relation to skynet. I mean, humans are easy killings for terminators. I don't really see a Terminator having to kill itself to kill a person. Especially in the past when its human targets don't even have access to the most powerful weapons. With the T-101, the only instance I could even see the Terminator needing to self terminate is with the T-1000 at the end in the steel mill. Though from what we see, the T-1000 is just as strong as it if not more so. So I don't see him hurling himself and the T-1000 into the hot liquid steel.
shareIt would have helped in the final scene of the Terminator if instead of just passively and quietly crushing, it allowed its power cell to explode (like we saw in T3) killing the trapped Connor.
It implies that if the Terminator was in control of an aeroplane with its target aboard, it wouldn't be able to crash the plane even if that was its best chance to succeed in its mission, if it risked self termination by doing so.
The one in T3 was a different model from the one in T2 and T1. So the previous 2 didn't have the Hydrogen Fuel Cells. Which is a good thing or else Sarah would have died in T1.
shareA self termination mode would certainly be necessary to prevent a deactivated unit falling into the enemy's hands and providing them with intelligence.
The T800 doesn't seem to have a very effective self preservation mode anyway. It swings itself out over the molten steel. Tells John to lower him down and makes no attempt to save itself from termination.
It does make sense a Terminator couldn't kill itself. Skynet would want them to just keep killing humans.
It DID self-terminate!
Okay, it had to use an external vat of molten steel rather than blowing itself up, because face it, what kind of built-in self-destruct method could destroy it at the molecular level and not leave one single circuit for the 20th century humans to monkey with? If it wasn't made with a self-destruct device then John Connor's engineers of the future probably put one in, but they probably didn't put in one that was as thorough as the plot eventually demanded. Explosive devices will usually leave chunks or bits, unless the device in question is large enough to take out a few city blocks and who knows how many innocent bystanders. The vat of molten steel really served the purpose better, so that's what was used.
Never heard Asimov's Three Laws????
shareWhy would you make a killer robot if you could defeat it by just walking up to it and saying, "Kill yourself."
shareWhy would you make a killer robot if you could defeat it by just walking up to it and saying, "Kill yourself."
I'm really struggling to imagine the thought process you must have gone through to write such a reply.
I'm not particularly intellectual, but if you're struggling with that, you might want to talk to someone.
shareAre you seriously saying that you interpreted the OP's post as him saying :
"Why dont they program the robot to kill itself whenever anyone asks it to?"
Because thats what your reply suggests,
and like I say , i cant fathom how you would draw that conclusion, given that:
a) thats not what was said
b) that what be a totally ridiculous thing to suggest.
No, I didn't interpret him as saying that at all. It was MY answer. If you're making a machine meant to kill humans, I would think giving it the ability to kill itself would be a design flaw. It opens up too many possibilities for things that goes against Skynet's interests. We already know the Resistance captured and reprogrammed at least 1 terminator (I'm ignoring anything past 2). If you can reprogram it and just send it back to Skynet with a bomb and just tell it to self-destruct when it reaches Skynet, that's pretty fucking dumb (of Skynet) to allow that function.
shareBut a Terminator can already be reprogrammed to go against Skynet. In fact its the T-800 that tells them it is necessary to destroy him, thereby stopping Skynet before it starts.
Maybe if a T-800 could self terminate if it fell into the enemy's hands then one wouldn't have been so easy to reprogram by the resistance.
It's clear you haven't thought very clearly about this question, your own answers or the film itself
The triple crown.
"But a Terminator can already be reprogrammed to go against Skynet."
That's the point.
Terminators are meant to blend in. Pass off as human. A reprogrammed terminator doesn't have to pass off as anything - it's already a terminator. A terminator floating around amongst another group of terminators, one of Skynet's bases, or even THEEEE location where Skynet itself "lives"? That could cause a ton of damage. "Hey captured terminator, go into this factory where Skynet makes your kind and blow it up." Skynet is all about planning ahead, safeguarding in order to ensure it's existence. Just one could cause a TON of damage to Skynet's forces.
Fucking clown, don't talk to me about bad arguments.
Hey dumbass. A Terminator doesn't need to terminate itself to do a lot of damage. You would realise that if you were paying attention.
Let me put it another way, stupid.
Let's say the Terminator was trapped in a metal press, like at the end of the first film, with Sarah trapped in it too. It can't reach Sarah herself but it can reach the controls which will bring the metal press down and kill them both. The Terminator would be unable to complete its mission because it can't self terminate. But it could ask a passing human to operate the controls to kill it and Sarah. Bullshit.
Skynet wants to keep its assets running.
shareI had already answered your question quite a while ago but I prefer the ending as it is. It's way more dramatic to have the Terminator slowly lowered into hot liquid Steel than it is to just see him jump into it. Him jumping into it would just make the scene less dramatic. If I somehow hadn't seen this movie as a kid and watched it as an adult I'd probably laugh at that scene if it consisted of the Terminator just jumping into the hot liquid steel. It'd just be such an over the top scene with the Terminator splashing into it!
shareHe could have just stepped onto an already descending platform before John could stop him and it would have been more or less the same.
I reckon the real reason was they wanted to distinguish it from the ending of Alien 3.
The idea that an anti self termination command is hard wired into a T800 suggests that Skynet anticipates an unrestricted nueral net in learn mode could learn to be suicidal at some stage. Weird.
Alien 3 came out a year after this. So that is not the reason.
shareNow you got me thinking of the prototypes from Robocop 2.
https://youtu.be/qZq7fW6ftlU