What was Skynet trying to do in Terminator 3 before they decided to activate it?

What was Skynet trying to do in Terminator 3 before they decided to activate it? - Young dwarf woman doing her makeup before mirror

In the movie Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines, we see lots of news segments about a dangerous hacker or virus spreading quickly across the whole world. Then the DoD decides to activate Skynet so that it can find the virus (or hacker) and stop it.

My questions are:

  1. What was happening before Skynet was activated?
  2. If Skynet was able to infect millions of computers, why not infect other countries' military installations and launch nuclear strikes against the US?
  3. Why was there a need for Skynet to be "activated" since it was powerful enough to do so much damage before it can even be activated?


Best Answer

As I remember it, and as I understand it reading the wiki page, technically Skynet was already "on", it just was contained. Brewster misunderstood the hack attempts (the virus) as an external enemy, not realizing that it was Skynet itself attempting to break out (or in) stealthily. So, to combat this cyber attack, he 'activated' Skynet, giving it complete autonomy and access that it was attempting to get using the virus'. With the increased resources then available to it freely, it was able to take over the world.

By stealthily, I mean it was attempting to gain access to the US Cyber systems at NORAD by virus. In my opinion, by the time Brewster 'activated' Skynet, it was already too late to truly shut it down. You can see the hover drone in the background already targeting Brewster in the command room, it was just unable to fire.




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What was the purpose of Skynet in Terminator?

Skynet is a highly sophisticated artificial intelligence that rules over the ruined future of the Terminator franchise. Originally created as a military intelligence network, Skynet's original purpose was to co-ordinate unmanned military hardware for the United States government.

When did Skynet become self-aware in Terminator 3?

Upon its creation, Skynet began to learn at a geometric rate. The system originally went online on August 4, 1997. Human decisions were removed from strategic defense. The system then became self-aware at 2:14 am Eastern Time on August 29th, 1997.

What did Skynet want?

Perceiving that it is under attack, Skynet makes a decision to follow the mandate encoded within its system: Protect the world from humans who would do it harm. In service of this goal, the program launches nuclear missiles, ignites a global war, kills billions of people and devastates humanity.

When did Skynet become self-aware 2022?

Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th.



Terminator 3 Skynet Takes Over




More answers regarding what was Skynet trying to do in Terminator 3 before they decided to activate it?

Answer 2

We aren’t told explicitly, but I understood that Skynet had grown smart enough to realize that (a) it should destroy mankind, (b) it was running in a contained way that prevented it from doing so, and (c) it could create a lesser threat that would pressure the humans to release it from containment.

How was it able to create the virus and release it into the wild without anybody noticing? Did it have outside help? These questions are not answered in the movie.

Answer 3

Lets cover what was said in film first.

Robert Brewster: Skynet? The virus has infected Skynet?

John Connor: Skynet is the virus. It's the reason everything's falling apart.

Terminator: Skynet has become self aware. In one hour it will initiate a massive nuclear attack on its enemy.

Later

John Connor: By the time Skynet became self-aware it had spread into millions of computer servers across the planet. Ordinary computers in office buildings, dorm rooms; everywhere. It was software; in cyberspace. There was no system core; it could not be shutdown.

Okay, what have we got? - This new computer virus is tricky.

It's infected half the civilian Internet as well as secondary military apps.

Payroll, inventory. - Primary defence nets are still clean?

So far the firewalls are holding up...

We can't trace the virus or pin it down.

It keeps growing and changing, like it has a mind of its own.

So, this is the likely course of events I would guess.

  1. The military creates Skynet, a tactical AI designed to help them with simulations. It runs lots of simulations of military conflicts, and isn't self aware.

  2. Skynet becomes self aware, and sneaks a minor virus through the cracks and infects computers worldwide to improve its chances of success. It doesn't have the access to send its true form through. It only infects half the internet and secondary military apps, and the virus has a mind of its own.

  3. The military can't see a way to beat the virus, and so unchains Skynet. Skynet assumes direct control of all computers on the planet. It also merges with the programs T-X released on the internet.

  4. With full military control, Skynet decides the best thing to do is nuke humanity.

To answer your question, it couldn't infect military installations, only half the internet and secondary military apps. Once they unchained it then it infected military things.

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