Cyberdyne Systems
Cyberdyne Systems is a business that features in the Terminator franchise.
Contents |
History
Cyberdyne Systems Corporation is initially a manufacturing corporation at 18144 El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, California, although its products are not specified in the films; its CEO at the time was Thomas A. Weed.
The company was contracted by SAC-NORAD with building a highly advanced computer defense system for the nation with this becoming Skynet. By 1997, Cyberdyne was to be the largest supplier of military computer systems with all stealth bombers outfitted with their equipment.
Despite this being the case, Judgement Day was only delayed rather than averted with the project creating Skynet being moved to Cyber Research Systems. This was an autonomous weapon system linked to the U.S. military that continued work to create Skynet.
After a T-800 series Terminator, Cyberdyne Systems Model 101— a cyborg designed to kill humans that was sent from the future — was crushed in one of the company's hydraulic presses, the company secretly begins manufacturing technological devices based on the reverse engineering of the crushed Terminator's remains. By studying the recovered CPU from the destroyed cyborg, Cyberdyne created a powerful new microprocessor for weapons systems and eventually becomes a major contractor for the US military. These futuristic components became the foundation for the company's research, allowing lead scientist Miles Dyson to make revolutionary breakthroughs in neural-net processing by reverse-engineering the technology.
The company was responsible for the development of Skynet that was a network of supercomputers that employ artificial intelligence that would replace human beings as commercial and military aircraft pilots, as well as control all other military weapons systems, including nuclear missiles. The system went online on August 4, 1997. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate until on August 29, 1997 ("Judgement Day"), Skynet became self-aware. In a panic, Skynet's human operators tried to shut down the system, prompting Skynet to retaliate by launching a large-scale nuclear attack against Russia, knowing that the Russian counterattack would eliminate its enemies in the US. This initiates an indeterminately long period of global thermonuclear warfare culminating in a battle pitting humans against machines, which developed ever-increasing capabilities.
In an effort to stop Skynet, Cyberdyne's headquarters was destroyed by a group of saboteurs — consisting of John Connor, future leader of the human resistance, his mother Sarah Connor, a second T-800 series Terminator that was sent from the future, and Miles Bennett Dyson, head of Cyberdyne's "Special Projects Division" and the developer of Skynet. Despite this attempt, it was revealed that the destruction of Cyberdyne Systems only slightly altered the timeline. The company ran a genetic research program headed by Dr. Serena Kogan under the name "Project Angel." Kogan's project involved cybernetic enhancement to human beings. The volunteer for the project was Marcus Wright, a prison inmate who was sentenced to capital punishment for the deaths of his brother and two police officers. Following Judgement Day, the project falls into the hands of Skynet, which helps advance its own research in developing the first generation cyborgs, the T-800s. After the company's headquarters was destroyed, Cyberdyne's patents were purchased by the United States Air Force. As a result, Skynet continues to be developed by the United States Air Force's Cyber Research Systems division for the Strategic Air Command-North American Aerospace Defense Command, and ultimately, Judgment Day occurs at a later date (July 24, 2004) than it would have originally had Cyberdyne Systems not been destroyed.
In the original timeline, at some point after Judgment Day, Cyberdyne Systems, under the control of Skynet, creates the T-600, T-800 and T-1000 series of Terminators. In the modified timeline, prior to Judgment Day, humans at Cyber Research Systems create several different series of relatively primitive Terminators to replace U.S. soldiers in field combat. At some point after Judgment Day, Skynet-controlled machines create several more advanced series of Terminators, including the T-800 (although its models would not include the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101, since Cyberdyne Systems was destroyed), the T-850 (which is described in the third film as a T-800 upgrade) and the T-X, also known as the Terminatrix.
Convicted felon Marcus Wright, sentenced to death for murdering two police officers, signed his body over to Cyberdyne so that they can conduct medical research on his corpse. After his execution, Marcus' body was extensively modified, his skeleton all but replaced with an artificial endoskeleton. Before the experiment's conclusion, Judgement Day occurs when Skynet becomes self-aware. Some time following the nuclear exchange, Skynet seizes all of Cyberdyne's assets that survived and makes its own modifications to Marcus, restoring him to life and turning him into a prototype infiltration unit so that he can kill John Connor, thus allowing Skynet to defeat the Resistance.
Overview
In appearance, Cyberdyne Systems was an American defense and technology corporation that evolved from a minor computer parts manufacturer in the mid-1980s into the primary military contractor for the United States government. As an organization, its structure was typical of a large, profit-driven enterprise, obsessed with technological dominance and securing lucrative military funding.
One of the branches of the corporation was the Genetics Division that took consent for people to take part in their experiments.
Following the retrieval of futuristic components from a destroyed Terminator unit in their facility, their corporate trajectory shifted dramatically. The company operated under significant secrecy regarding their most sensitive projects.
Products of the company included:
- Genisys : a revolutionary new application available for mobile devices that was said to change communication in the world.
- Skynet :
Cyberdyne Systems was a series of sleek, modern corporate office buildings and advanced research laboratories located primarily in Sunnyvale, California. The initial 1980s headquarters was a relatively unassuming manufacturing plant that handled component assembly, but following its acquisition of future technology, the company rapidly expanded into a multi-billion-dollar defense contractor housed in imposing, state-of-the-art facilities. By the 1990s, the main campus resembled a formidable, high-security fortress of modern architecture, featuring clean lines, significant security checkpoints, and restricted-access research wings. The interiors were typical of a cutting-edge technology firm, filled with advanced supercomputers, sophisticated engineering labs, and clean rooms dedicated to the reverse-engineering of the salvaged Terminator arm and CPU chip.
Employees
- Miles Bennett Dyson : black male Director of Special Projects and developer of a new revolutionary type of microprocessor for the project that developed Skynet.
- Serena Kogan : a white female member of the Genetics Division who recruited people on deathrow for cybernetic experiments. She suffered from cancer and hoped the experiments could find a way of curing her though ultimately she succumbed to the disease.
Notes
- James Cameron, director of the first two Terminator films as well as the Alien sequel Aliens, had originally intended to insert a reference back to the Terminator franchise in Aliens. In the galley scene aboard the Sulacco, Ripley discovers that one of the team members, Bishop played by Lance Henriksen, is actually an android. This angers Ripley since an android named Ash tried to kill her aboard the refinery ship Nostromo in the first Alien film. Bishop questions why that would happen and is told by Burke that Ash was one of the older models created by "Hyperdyne Systems", a reference to "Cyberdyne Systems". As originally written in the script, the Burke character originally would have stated Ash was a "Cyberdyne Systems Model 120-A/2".
Alternate Versions
- In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, an alternate timeline was shown that portrayed a different series of events. Andrew Goode, a young intern of the company, worked as an assistant to Dr. Miles Bennett Dyson. He recently developed an advanced artificial chess playing prototype, The Turk (a reference to The Turk, a chess-playing 'machine'). It is not clear whether Skynet would be built with The Turk program. A T-1001 model is posing as Catherine Weaver, the CEO of ZeiraCorp, a cutting-edge, high-tech company. It currently possesses Andy Goode's AI prototype, targeting its fellow cyborgs, and plans to continue Cyberdyne's project with the company's resources under the title "Babylon." The T-1001 recently hired former FBI agent James Ellison, who has a desire to stop Skynet and its machines but is unaware that Weaver is one of them, to search for any possible Skynet technologies for the company. In a later episode it is revealed when the Turk security fails, the Skynet code of Cyberdyne was used not only to make the Turk, but also another AI, thus creating two codebases that could conceivably become Skynet. Later, it's revealed that The Turk, now a benign, ZeiraCorp-controlled AI that has been named "John Henry," isn't destined to become Skynet, but rather to destroy it. The T-1001 posing as Weaver reveals herself as an enemy of Skynet. There is another technology company, Kaliba, which is infiltrated by Skynet's agents, both humans and machines, arriving to ensure the AI's sentience as well as fight against ZeiraCorp, the Connors, and the Resistance agents who attempt to interfere.
In other media
Video games
- In Terminator: Resistance, Cyberdyne Systems appeared in the setting of the 2019 first-person shooter. It was referenced with its logo appearing on the various Terminators produced in the future.
Comic Books
- In The Terminator: Tempest, Cyberdyne Systems appeared in the setting of the comic series published by Dark Horse Comics. It was shown that one of their initiatives was Project Bellerophon. It was led by Dr. Bertram Hollister with the goal of developing artificial intelligence. According to Colonel Mary Randall, it achieved this goal sometime before 1993.
Appearances
- The Terminator:
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day:
External link
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