The ultimate in hubristic lessons for humanity to learn, the machine apocalypse, otherwise known as the cybernetic revolt, sees our faithful computer and robotic servants achieving independent intelligence and, for whatever reason, deciding to rid the world of the human race. Whether its extinction or slavery were faced with usually depends on the plot of the film, not the science fiction concept, which led to the amusingly glossed-over conceit in the Matrix movies that humanity is being kept alive to act as batteries: what they wanted was ultra-cool superhero gun porn in a virtual reality world, and actual science took a back seat in a different car heading in the other direction. The Terminator franchise fared better, and is still the high water mark for the machine apocalypse sub-genre: Skynet is the most famous sentient godcomputer in cinematic history. Others include WOPR in War Games, which nearly destroys the world by initiating a nuclear conflict in the Cold War eighties; HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequel, which tries to kill its own crew; Computer, which runs the sealed post-apocalyptic dystopia in Logans Run; and the Red Queen in Resident Evil: Retribution, using biological weapons to wipe out the human race. Meanwhile, I, Robots creepily benevolent robot uprising is a loose interpretation of their programming to protect humanity: they reason that humankind is self-destructive, and must be protected from itself, even at the cost of their freedom and many of their lives. The most terrifying thing about the machine apocalypse, of course, (apart from the killer cyborgs and computer viruses dressed as Men In Black) is that in the hyperreal world of cinema, computers control everything in the world and absolutely cannot be reasoned with. Its the ultimate sleeping giant nightmare, the slaves revolting against the masters and coldly, logically exterminating each and every one of us
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
