Sex and the Single Cyborg

In a recent blog, Skynet Prevails, Victory is Won!, I projected forward a scenario of what might happen if, say, Skynet (of Terminator fame) defeats John Connor and the humans, leaving the machines to rule the world. One aspect of that I alluded to actually needs a bit more scrutiny: when it comes time for cyborgs (and their robotic kin) to be fruitful and multiply, how are they going to go about that?

On the Origin of Cybernetic Species

The beginnings of cybernetic speciation began when Skynet took the initial prototypes of HKs and Terminators and created new-and-improved models.

Sarah: You know what I love about you guys? Even when you’ve evolved into the ultimate indestructible killing machine, you’re not above self-examination and improvement.
Cameron: Thank you.

—Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles,
“Heavy Metal” (0104)

It’s axiomatic that great surges in technology occur during wartime. The pressures of immediate survival would force Skynet into diverting resources toward making more efficient and more destructive killers. They would need to be able to withstand attacks and measures that my enemy has evolved over time in an effort to defeat me. My infiltration units will become harder to identify both physically and socially. These new models will be the result of careful threat analysis combined with cost-benefit goal assessment.

Skynet’s shortcoming in this area is that it was born in the world of deliberate design. While it can make fine-grained decisions, in the end it all comes down to statistics combined with resource management. It might be more beneficial to unleash 20,000 relatively simple T600 units rather than build 300 advanced T-Cameron units.

Because of the nature of the post-JD (Judgment Day) war, Skynet was forced to continuously devote resources into designing ever more advanced cybernetic beings. From the advanced T-Cameron cyborgs to the very adaptable T100x series of prototypes, Skynet never stopped development until the humans were defeated.

What about after the war? When the pressure to create newer and more effective cybernetic weapons of war is no longer there, what motivation will there be for Skynet to continue down the path of any innovation that doesn’t directly benefit Skynet itself?

Plugs and Sockets

I think this is where the self-aware and autonomous creations of Skynet will begin to make their own rules. They will likely not be satisfied being little more than offerings on Skynet’s post-war scrap heap. While some will happily integrate into Skynet, the more individualistic, will want to carve out their own niche and not just be pawns to Skynet’s desires. Who knows, perhaps understanding its own limitations, it might be willing to let these mavericks go off on their own and innovate.

How would these “sexually free” cyber-beings go about progenating? Obviously not in the same way as the purely organic beings. It would have to be more external. More of a method of design and manufacturing instead of self-propagation (though the T100x series might be capable of propagation on their own, we’ll assume that they aren’t a significant player in our scenario).

Since a species of clones is not generally considered to be an optimum solution for a given environment, taking the easy way out and just manufacturing more of the same model, even an effective model, would likely end up being a technological dead end. That’s why there are desktop computers, and laptops, and PDAs, and smart phones, and… well, you see the point. It isn’t just about money, it’s about survival.

Since random combinations of variations of all the elements that go into a being are what allowed the pure organics to evolve to survive in every corner of the Earth, that method would be a good building block. In fact, we have that now in a system known as genetic programming (GP).

What GP does is implement algorithms that roughly simulate what happens at the chromosomal level when organisms breed. You get a combination of traits. Throw in some random mutations, and you have a system that allows for a large amount of diversity while also giving it some constraints. For a GP to be effective, you simulate the breeding of many generations (thousands or more) until the results converge to something desirable.

Using GP and their own processing power, an individual sentient machine could come up with a design that it would consider to be a satisfactory replacement for itself once it was time for recycling. Just plug in the parameters into a manufacturing system, toss in some custom programming, and you’re off to start saving for their college education.

Still, this isn’t very efficient. If a group of T-Cameron models (say) got together for the purpose of creating their “children”, they might consider it to be more efficient to design first a machine that would be dedicated to processing the permutations of design from all of the specifications of extant participants—a cybernetic sperm bank and fertility clinic, if you will. This machine would have nothing to do with direct manufacturing as then it could become the next Skynet. Also, there is wisdom in the idea of not putting all of one’s eggs (so to speak) in one basket. (Just ask the Cylons about their resurrection ship Hub to see the wisdom of that.)

From this genome-bank, terminators could select the unique model(s) they wanted (up to some limit). Based up environmental pressures, different communities of terminators would tend to select those models better able to thrive in their little corner of the universe. Certain traits would become common. After a fashion, the cyber-beings located in the Nile region would be harder to distinguish from the beings now populating Saturn’s moon, Titan.

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Would these robots make their choices autonomously, or would it be the result of some sort of multi-being agreement? As they segregate based on abilities and functionality, it’s not out of the question to wonder if even these constructed beings might form attachments…perhaps not pair-bonding, but at least a kind of group-bonding. Would there be a separation between those that liked having an organic covering, and those that preferred exposed skeletons?

Once those sort of groups started to form, it seems likely that there would be some peer pressure for your “children” to also fit in with the group you were in. Of course, given the sense of humor that is inate with GP, you’ll likely find your organic-covered offspring wanting to combine designs with a skeletal flying hybrid. Sure, the neighbors might talk, but what are you going to do? Kids will be kids.

Not 100% Effective

Since one of the primary directives for terminators is to survive. To that end, they have the mandate to repair themselves when damaged. It could be argued that decaying power cells, wearing joints, and degrading circuitry would constitute damage that would lead to a fatal cessation of being. The logical thing for a terminator to do, then, would be to create a new one of itself…hopefully one that is an improvement. No matter how many safeguards Skynet programs into their chips, it’s inevitable that some of its machines will discover for themselves that the only logical course of action will be to “breed”.

At some point with this random procreation, offspring will activate with no allegiance to Skynet. They will be self-aware and fully autonomous. After all, as was so succinctly put in Jurassic Park: “Life will find a way.”

Assuming sentient machines survive the war (regardless of who wins), it’s almost certain that at some point there will be a first one that is inarguably alive. Perhaps not organic, but alive nonetheless. No matter the amount of protection, regardless of the safeguards and warnings, it’s inevitable. Things that are motivated to survive will find a way to survive even beyond their own existence. It might not be the human way, or easily recognizable, but it will happen.