I think you may be right about Cameron - I think John may have given her a program structure that grants her to have free will. It would explain his attitude towards her. John - as written in the series - is an interesting character, he understands and knows how to work with computers and technology. He's not a luddite like his mother - who treats all technology and computers as an enemy and doesn't understand them. It's part of the tension between the two of them, and between him and Derek - John unlike Derek and Sarah, has learned that in order to defeat the enemy, you have to understand and embrace it. In a way, SkyNet and John are similar - both are striving to figure out the other.
I also think Catherine Weaver - has free will. Her mission is too complicated for her not to have it. She has the mission to create Skynet or give birth to her own parent/creator. That requires complex cognitive and analytical reasoning, not to mention the ability to persuade and con - which you can't do without free will.
But, like you say, they may not know what free will really means, anymore than we do. It's a double-edge gift after-all. Makes people unpredictable. That's what Catherine says humans have that computers don't - their actions are unpredictable, you don't really know what they will do or necessarily why. While with a computer - there are a limited number of options and it will always do whatever it takes to accomplish it's main objective. A human may deter from the main objective or dismiss the objective entirely for something else unrelated. Part of the conflict between Cameron and John - is Cameron is trying to stick to the "main objective" keeping John safe and John keeps taking weird detours which place him in harms way. Same thing with Sarah, she keeps detouring from the course, going off and doing things that do not fit the prime objective and if anything conflict with it.
I think that may be one of the central themes of the series - what free will really means and the degree to which it alters things.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-01-10 05:43 pm (UTC)I also think Catherine Weaver - has free will. Her mission is too complicated for her not to have it. She has the mission to create Skynet or give birth to her own parent/creator. That requires complex cognitive and analytical reasoning, not to mention the ability to persuade and con - which you can't do without free will.
But, like you say, they may not know what free will really means, anymore than we do. It's a double-edge gift after-all.
Makes people unpredictable. That's what Catherine says humans have that computers don't - their actions are unpredictable, you don't really know what they will do or necessarily why.
While with a computer - there are a limited number of options and it will always do whatever it takes to accomplish it's main objective. A human may deter from the main objective or dismiss the objective entirely for something else unrelated. Part of the conflict between Cameron and John - is Cameron is trying to stick to the "main objective" keeping John safe and John keeps taking weird detours which place him in harms way.
Same thing with Sarah, she keeps detouring from the course, going off and doing things that do not fit the prime objective and if anything conflict with it.
I think that may be one of the central themes of the series - what free will really means and the degree to which it alters things.