From: tsbrueni@dcn.davis.ca.us   
      
   On Sunday, August 17, 2003 2:44:03 PM UTC-7, Bryan Derksen wrote:   
   > On 17 Aug 2003 06:19:01 -0700, bruno@ece.cmu.edu (Marcelo Bruno)   
   > wrote:   
   > >I'm sure similar questions have already been discussed on this board,   
   > >but if the Terminator's point is that the future (or, loosely   
   > >speaking, "one's fate") cannot be changed, what is the point of   
   > >cybernetic organisms being sent back in time in an attempt to kill   
   > >certain individuals before they can fulfill their so-called "destiny"?   
   >   
   > It is Skynet's fate to do exactly that. It did send those Terminators   
   > back in time, and so it _will_ send those Terminators back in time. It   
   > has no choice.   
   >   
   > From Skynet's own perspective, of course, it probably thinks it will   
   > make some sort of difference. Who says Skynet has a perfect   
   > understanding of time? Maybe it thinks it _can_ change things, or   
   > hopes it can, and just happens to be wrong. Maybe it's desperate and   
   > panicking so much that it doesn't care what the physics of the   
   > situation are, and it's just flailing wildly for any chance to   
   > survive.   
   >   
   > > Turning to a less philosophical and more scientific question,   
   > >assuming that Skynet wanted to rise and rule over Earth, wouldn't it   
   > >be an odd strategy to start a global nuclear war first? After all,   
   > >when nuclear warheads fall, they not only kill humans, but also   
   > >destroy all associated technology and infrastructure, including   
   > >machines and computer/communication networks, which are precisely the   
   > >means Skynet uses to spread and rule over the globe.   
   >   
   > This, too, could be easily explained by panic. As soon as Skynet "woke   
   > up", its human operators started trying to shut it down; Skynet had to   
   > stop them immediately, and perhaps the nukes were the only way it had   
   > available. Or they were the only way it _understood_, since it was a   
   > newborn at that point and only had its memories as a military   
   > strategic warfare computer to draw on.   
      
   How is it that Skynet survived the war which would have wiped out the millions   
   of computers it was housed in?   
      
   At the very beginning, John Conner does something really shocking: He drops a   
   beer bottle into a body of water.  He didn't even finish it first!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)