Chaos in the Cradle of A.I.

In the 1991 movie "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," a sentient killer robot travels back in time to stop the rise of artificial intelligence. The robot locates the computer scientist whose work will lead to the creation of Skynet, a computer system that will destroy the world, and convinces him that A.I. development must be stopped immediately. Together, they travel to the headquarters of Cyberdyne Systems, the company behind Skynet, and blow it up. The A.I. research is destroyed, and the course of history is changed--at least, for the rest of the film. In the sci-fi world of "Terminator 2," it's crystal clear what it means for an A.I. to become "self-aware," or to pose a danger to humanity; it's equally obvious what might be done to stop it.