# What would a real life terminator be like **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 25, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882 "2012-10-25T23:04:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/1 "2012-10-25T23:04:19Z")
If there was a real life terminator sent back in time, how would it actually look and act? Schwarzenegger was chosen for the role because his accent made him sound robotic and due to his physique. But a 6’2" bodybuilder with an accent is going to stand out. Plus the terminators also have a flat affect, which also makes them stand out. You’d want a machine that can mimic emotions to avoid detection if you are doing assassination missions. Plus the terminators always commit gratuitous crimes above and beyond their missions. These seem like all they’d do is arouse suspicion and make the mission harder to accomplish. It makes for good cinema but wouldn’t work in the real world. Good shoplifting skills and knowing how to kill people by faking accidents or natural deaths seem like good skills to have in these situations. I think a terminator that looks like a college age girl would be ideal. Nobody would suspect them of being a threat, they can go almost anywhere w/o arousing attention. Plus men are going to be docile and cooperative if she is attractive and fakes interest. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/2 "2012-10-25T23:23:31Z")
Little Girls. For maximum terror effect. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/3 "2012-10-25T23:26:45Z")
Why not make it a dog with a bomb inside. It wag’s it tail, it trots up to the target and, **BOOM!** Skynet wins. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/4 "2012-10-25T23:30:41Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > If there was a real life terminator sent back in time, how would it actually look and act? > > Schwarzenegger was chosen for the role because his accent made him sound robotic and due to his physique. But a 6’2" bodybuilder with an accent is going to stand out. Plus the terminators also have a flat affect, which also makes them stand out. You’d want a machine that can mimic emotions to avoid detection if you are doing assassination missions. > > Plus the terminators always commit gratuitous crimes above and beyond their missions. These seem like all they’d do is arouse suspicion and make the mission harder to accomplish. It makes for good cinema but wouldn’t work in the real world. Good shoplifting skills and knowing how to kill people by faking accidents or natural deaths seem like good skills to have in these situations. > > I think a terminator that looks like a college age girl would be ideal. Nobody would suspect them of being a threat, they can go almost anywhere w/o arousing attention. Plus men are going to be docile and cooperative if she is attractive and fakes interest. Most of the terminators in the sarah connor chronicles tv series are exactly like you’re describing, even including a teenage girl. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/5 "2012-10-25T23:52:21Z")
My question is, why would a terminator go back to a time when the intended target is at their fittest and less than a year from enacting the event that’s trying to be prevented? A smart terminator would go back when Sarah Conner was a lityle girl and be disguised as a nurse, babysitter, teacher or a second-grader. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/6 "2012-10-26T00:03:08Z")
All Skynet would really have to do is send a robotic Ed McMahon back in time to give Sarah Connor a million dollars. OK, not entirely serious, there, but think a moment: How big of a life disruption, positive or negative, would it really take to prevent someone from hooking up with a specific someone else? A different job, a different shift on the same job, even a different co-worker with a different birthday party and mix of mutual friends. That’s it. No Fate. Every change ripples. Besides, how cool would it be to have an Ed McMahon endoskeleton brandishing an over-sized titanium check as it walks away from a tanker truck explosion? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/7 "2012-10-26T00:08:18Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > My question is, why would a terminator go back to a time when the intended target is at their fittest and less than a year from enacting the event that’s trying to be prevented? A smart terminator would go back when Sarah Conner was a lityle girl and be disguised as a nurse, babysitter, teacher or a second-grader. But if the terminator had done that and successfully killed Sarah Connor, it wouldn’t have left the arm behind that led to the building of Skynet. Don’t try to figure it out. More seriously, keep in mind the Terminator didn’t know which Sarah Connor it was supposed to kill. Remember it had a list of Sarah Connors who were living in Los Angeles in the right year. If it had gone back twenty more years, it would have been trying to track them down all over the country. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/8 "2012-10-26T00:12:32Z")
Why does it have to look like a specific person or type of person? The T-1000 had the right idea, IMO: versatility. It’s all about versatility. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/9 "2012-10-26T00:20:02Z")
The [RoboCop vs. Terminator comic book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoboCop_Versus_The_Terminator_%28comics%29) showed Terminators of both sexes, differing ages, and even a dog-shaped Terminator. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/10 "2012-10-26T00:29:18Z")
Robotic fire ants. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/11 "2012-10-26T00:50:17Z")
A “mother” with her “baby”; the “baby” is also a Terminator. No one expects a Mom to throw her baby at them, much less for the baby to explode or rip their face off like a killer monkey. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/12 "2012-10-26T01:23:01Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > A “mother” with her “baby”; the “baby” is also a Terminator. No one expects a Mom to throw her baby at them, much less for the baby to explode or rip their face off like a killer monkey. Also: A killer monkey. One of those [wind-up monkeys with cymbals.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbal-banging_monkey_toy) Nobody would see it coming. [Who can ascribe murderous intent to this cute little face?](http://www.uniquely-portland-oregon.com/images/windup-monkey-at-organ-grinder-pizza-21397377.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/13 "2012-10-26T06:05:20Z")
The terminator design and programming are shown to improve incrementally. Skynet was still figuring out how to make them blend in, so it makes sense that the early models would lack subtlety–even if they could only pass for human at a distance, though, it would still be an advantage. The 600-series had rubber skin, IIRC, and would have been obvious up close…if you were still alive to notice. Then the 800-series (the Arnold-type) had real flesh over the machine, making it much less obvious, but had only crude speech programming–it literally used lists of pre-written responses for at least some things. The T-1000 could shapeshift, mimic voices, and come up with plausible lies. So, the answer would depend on what point in the future the terminator was sent back from. It could be anything from a crude android with rubber skin and a handful of prerecorded speech clips to something that could pass for human under nearly any circumstances. > [@Chimera](#): > > Little Girls. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > A “mother” with her “baby”; the “baby” is also a Terminator. No one expects a Mom to throw her baby at them, much less for the baby to explode or rip their face off like a killer monkey. Merging the ideas a bit, in Philip K. Dick’s “Second Variety”, the third variety of the killing machines was “David”, a little boy with a teddy bear. The bear could move on its own, and I think it was explosive. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/14 "2012-10-26T11:12:00Z")
But Arnold does make sense if you want randomness, any time you settle on a Terminator type the resistance will adapt. So yes one or two body builders with foreign accents helps throw off the profiling. There was going to be a scene in T2 where the adult John looks through the Skynet facility to find Arnold to send back, there was to be a room with thousands of Terminators of all sexes, races and sizes where he finds Arnold(he knows he has to find Arnold because that is who he remembers sending back). It was an unfilmed scene. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/15 "2012-10-26T11:52:32Z")
One of my old sig lines was: > [@](#): > > “Bidi – Bidi – Bidi — Sarah Connor?” > > ``` > --Skynet unwisely goes with the lowest bidder > > ``` Why not? Who would suspect a cute little robot of being dangerous? Just pack it full of C-4 and let it walk around until it found her. Better still, build a suitcase nuke into it. You wouldn’t have to worry about its lack of resemblance to a human – it’s _supposed_ to look like a robot. People wilol think it’s an advertising stunt, or something. Make it cute and short, not ninja-stealth-like, or big and imposing, and they’ll let it get up close to them. And you could program it to say reallyu cute and clever things, or something appropriately ironic. Give yourself style points. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/16 "2012-10-26T11:54:06Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > One of my old sig lines was: > > > [@](#): > > > > “Bidi – Bidi – Bidi — Sarah Connor?” > > > > –Skynet unwisely goes with the lowest bidder Ha! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/17 "2012-10-26T12:31:04Z")
Real life terminators look like [this](http://xkcd.com/652/). I love the alt-text for this one: “We live in a world where there are actual fleets of robot assassins patrolling the skies. At some point there, we left the present and entered the future.” ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/18 "2012-10-26T21:13:53Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > My question is, why would a terminator go back to a time when the intended target is at their fittest and less than a year from enacting the event that’s trying to be prevented? A smart terminator would go back when Sarah Conner was a lityle girl and be disguised as a nurse, babysitter, teacher or a second-grader. What kind of movie would this be? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/19 "2012-10-26T21:19:17Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > What kind of movie would this be? Twisted. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882/20 "2012-10-26T21:24:08Z")
Robot nurse from the future kills baby. The end. I’d watch that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-real-life-terminator-be-like/638882.md?page=2)