Terminator’s killer robots can help in the real debate on lethal autonomous weapons

Menadue, Christopher Benjamin

English

ResearchOnline at James Cook University

4/6/2018 Science fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lesson from Terminator's killer robotshttps://theconversation.com/science-fiction-helps-us-deal-with-science-fact-a-lesson-from-terminators-killer-robots-50249 1/5AuthorChristopher Benjamin MenaduePhD Candidate, Literature and Society,James Cook UniversityAcademic rigour, journalistic flairScience fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lesson fromTerminator’s killer robotsAugust 23, 2017 1.44pm AESTFurther calls this week for a crackdown on the development of lethal autonomousweapons has led to the usual rush of references to killer robots in science fiction, suchas the Terminator film series and RoboCop.Given that the 1991 movie Terminator 2: Judgement Day is getting a re-release in 3Dthis week, it seems likely that the original film’s killer robot will not lose its shine asthe poster boy for any debate on lethal autonomous weapons.But is that a bad thing?Terminator’s killer robots can help in the real debate on lethal autonomous weapons. Flickr/Edwin Montufar, CC BY-NC-SAAugust 23, 2017 1.44pm AESTScience fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lessonfrom Terminator’s killer robotsTerminator 2: Judgment Day 3D Trailer #1 (2017) | Movieclips Trailers4/6/2018 Science fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lesson from Terminator's killer robotshttps://theconversation.com/science-fiction-helps-us-deal-with-science-fact-a-lesson-from-terminators-killer-robots-50249 2/5Read more: Star Wars turns 40 and it still inspires our real life space junkiesResearch last year showed that the use of the Terminator image was a good way to get people engagedin global policies related to the rise and proliferation of killer robots. Far from demonising realscience, the inclusion of fiction seemed to keep the discussion focused on the real world issues.In a recent paper, a colleague and I discovered that researchers are using science fiction to provide acommon ground for engaging with the public across a wide range of disciplines.This is especially the case in science education, advocacy and research. Fiction appears to be anexcellent medium for education and advocacy because it gives us humanistic ways of thinking aboutnew and challenging scientific subjects.Science fiction can personalise the horror of a wealthy elite cloning children as living breathing organdonors, as depicted in Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel Never Let Me Go.The 1982 film Blade Runner, based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, isused to make us question what it is to be human.Researchers even argue that our fear and fascination of intelligent machines originates fromdiscovering a new form of God. Our questions about science can be based on future fact, fiction, oreven matters of faith.He’s back, with added 3D.(Left to right) Ruth (Keira Knightley), Kathy (Carey Mulligan) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) in the film Never Let Me Go: arethey people or spare parts? IMBD4/6/2018 Science fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lesson from Terminator's killer robotshttps://theconversation.com/science-fiction-helps-us-deal-with-science-fact-a-lesson-from-terminators-killer-robots-50249 3/5On a more prosaic level, science fiction is used in educational practice – whether it’s taking examplesfrom Isaac Asimov’s story collection I, Robot to help emerging scientists to develop better technical writing skills or inspiring a curriculum for design education. The related genre of fantasy fiction hasbeen used to engage school children with astronomy through C.S. Lewis’s Narnia chronicles, J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter books, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth.As tools to support education, engagement and advocacy, we should not be shy of taking advantage ofthe popularity and accessibility of science fiction and fantasy.Scientists in science fictionScience fiction exploded in popularity towards the end of the 1920s when it became a staple of pulpfiction magazines. From early on, some authors aspired to utopian ideals and a better future forhumankind, which is what science is about as well.Over the years there have been plenty of scientists who have also engaged in science fiction, includingAsimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Fred Hoyle, Geoffrey Landis and Carl Sagan.The tradition of the writers with science backgrounds is very much alive today, and the technicalwriter Ted Chiang has had fictional stories published in the journal Nature. Chiang’s work is a seriesof thought experiments that provide human perspectives on significant scientific questions.His hard-science based, but accessible science fiction successfully made it to the big screen in Arrival(2016), one of the more cerebral science fiction films of recent years, and one of the highest rated by critics and viewers alike.In Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) falls for Rachael (Sean Young), a genetically engineered artificial human.IMDB4/6/2018 Science fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lesson from Terminator's killer robotshttps://theconversation.com/science-fiction-helps-us-deal-with-science-fact-a-lesson-from-terminators-killer-robots-50249 4/5Science fiction is very popular, both in writing and on film, and has gradually shifted from a literatureof young men in the 1950s and 1960s to a more general appeal today. Respondents to my own 2015-16survey of science fiction consumers were 54% female and representative of all age groups.Read more: The future of flying cars: science fact or science fiction?Consumers of science fiction today share characteristics with the population in general, and are veryinterested in science. This provides researchers with a tremendous opportunity to engage a broaderpublic with their work.Science fiction has become so familiar as a tool for explaining science that NASA is helping fiction writers and filmmakers on works such as author William Forstchen’s Pillar to the Sky, and the films Europa Report and Gravity (both 2013).Arrival: Linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) putting a human face to the fourth dimension.Arrival Trailer (2016) - Paramount Pictures4/6/2018 Science fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lesson from Terminator's killer robotshttps://theconversation.com/science-fiction-helps-us-deal-with-science-fact-a-lesson-from-terminators-killer-robots-50249 5/5Science communication Science education Fiction Science fiction Terminator Killer robots Global PerspectivesNASA also gave technical advice to makers of The Martian (2015) to make sure many of the film’s technologies depicted were real.This demonstrates how NASA thinks science fiction can inspire people about science, and it has beenargued that science fiction can influence the direction in which science takes us.Perhaps one day science fiction might lose its ability to inspire wonder, but for now the publicengagement opportunities it offers researchers are unmatched.We produce knowledge-based, ethical journalism. Please donate and help us thrive.Tax deductible.Make a donationMark Watney (Matt Damon) really did have a little help from NASA in the The Martian when he said: ‘I’m gonna have toscience the shit out of this.’ 20th Century Fox

Science fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lesson

from Terminator’s killer robots

https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/53177/1/Science%20fiction%20helps%20us%20deal%20with%20science%20fact_%20a%20lesson%20from%20Terminator%27s%20killer%20robots.pdf

Science fiction helps us deal with science fact: a lesson from Terminator’s killer robots

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