The Terminator Files Forum

I know this was one of the larger themes of the movie, but shouldn't a terminator with a vast knowledge on human anatomy know that humans cry to flush stress-inducing hormones from their bodies?

That's always something that has bothered me.

The T2 text commentary, as well as the T2 novelization explain that (Cameron's) Skynet and machines are completely alien to emotions, Theyre automats, like a lawnmower and we are the grass. The commentary on Extreme DVD explicitly states that they dont understand or know emotions or behavior at all, including Skynet

Van Ling: One interesting flaw of the otherwise analytical T-1000 - it could not decipher the human behavior factor accurately enough to know how to correctly imitate. This is why AI has not been particularly successful in predicting and analyzing human behavior on individual level and why we can still beat the machines.

T2 novelization goes more into detail saying that Skynet doesnt know why people keep fighting , doesnt understand the concept of love, honor and determination at all. He thinks of human beings as one mass, he doesnt know or understand individuality. Bear in mind the REAL, original, Cameron's Skynet is something completely different then the Power Ranger villain we've seen in Salvation. Its a machine completely alien to emotions or personality

T-800 knows what chemically causes it but doesnt know why. Sure, the tears are produced by our body but they're induced/triggered by people's state of mind and not the organism itself, hence the question why do we cry

Other scenes in T2 dwell on the same concept more, especially the deleted dialogues between John and T-800. T-800 explains that he doesnt feel one way or another and then on the way to Dyson John explains that we hurt and we have desire to live and T-800 shows the signs that he doesnt understand it

Very well said as always T1! I really like to read your statements.

T1 already covered most of it, but also keep in mind that extensive knowledge isn't the same as complete knowledge. People cry for a variety of reasons, some of which make little sense even to humans.

Something else to consider, is that humans do not cry to flush stress-inducing hormones from their bodies. That may be what is happening, but it is not why humans cry; it's just a symptom. Likewise, the crying is a symptom. The real reason people cry is due to high levels of stress, but as mentioned above, the causes of stress vary a great deal. When it comes to stress, there's so much going on in the human mind that it's hard for even humans to understand it all--let alone a one-of-a-kind electronic entity. There are no conditions that will guarantee stress-related crying. What constitutes stress for one person may not be worth considering for another person. And since crying can also be caused by happy events, it's hard to make generalization about what stress is.

Maybe Skynet would eventually figure it all out, but that sort of thing takes time. But considering that Skynet itself is the source of much of humanity's stress, it greatly complicates efforts to study stress.

That's really how you cry, not why.

So then he's trying to figure out what stresses people out?



Yeah, that's how, but it can also be inferred that's it's why... to get the bad junk out of your body. That's why..



Couldn't skynet figure out emotions eventually through things such as its R&D projects? For example, it would witness happiness when a mother was reunited with her baby, it would witness fear when a terminator walked in a prisoner's cell, boredom when a human was placed in an empty room for hours at a time etc...

Not exactly. I'd say it's an attempt to more accurately predict a human's state of mind, which in turn helps predict how a human will act in a given scenario. What good does it do to recognize that a human is crying if it doesn't understand the cause of the crying?


But that's an awfully vague explanation with no real benefit to understanding the though processes of a human. I think the Terminator was looking for an explanation that's more directly applicable to observable human behavior.


Theoretically, but consider the circumstances involved. Anyone captured by Skynet has plenty of reason to be constantly afraid. Their reactions may not be representative of how they'd act in normal situations. Let's look at your first example for instance. After being subjected to the stress of being captured by murderous machines and having her baby taken from her, a mother is not going to be all smiles and laughter when reunited with her baby. She might actually cry some more. So if a woman cries when something bad happens and she cries when something good happens, how is that going to make sense to Skynet? Or what about the second example? What happens when one person exhibits fear, but another person exhibits defiance? Skynet now has to figure out why the same exact situations affect people in dramatically different ways. Even the third example is far from straightforward. People locked in rooms by themselves don't all act the same. Some people might pace. Others might take a nap. Others will sit and watch the door. Some people might even periodically bang on the door or yell out loud trying to attract attention. Locking someone in isolation does not guarantee a standard "boredom" response.

Skynet is attempting to understand what is essentially an alien life form. Humans aren't made of copper and silicon. They don't conform precisely to standard blueprints or have interchangeable components. They don't run on electricity. They do not have a 100% duty cycle. They don't short out if exposed to water, and in fact actually require large amounts of it to operate. Constant activity can actually make a human stronger instead of wearing it out. It's a pretty big challenge for Skynet to completely understand something that has virtually nothing in common with itself. It may be able to figure out humans eventually, but that doesn't mean that it already would have.