Objectives: I hope that we can devote most of today's discussion to Terminator and the vision of a technologically mediated future that it presents. I will also show a couple of clips from Terminator 2 and Blade Runner. Since you are also beginning Stephenson's Snow Crash, we can begin discussing Stephenson's representation of a technologically mediated future as well.

Questions on Terminator:

1) When Terminator was released, the United States was still involved in the Cold War. How is that involvement evident in the film?

2) In Terminator, are there good and bad examples of technology, or is all technology inherently antihuman?

3) Like all dystopias, Terminator works by highlighting certain current historical developments and projecting them into a futuristic setting. What aspects of present-day culture and society are represented in the film?

4) Like so many of the texts that we have studied, Terminator focuses on the power-charged relationship between between men and machines. How does the film represent the human-machine encounter?

5) Last time we talked a bit about technological determinism. To what extent do machines possess agency in Terminator?

6) Throughout the course, we have considered how representations of technology intersect with representations of gender. How do gender and technology intersect in Terminator?

7) How would Barbara Garson respond to the representation of technology in Terminator? How would Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, respond?

8) Terminator is famous for the way that it represents the cyborg, the Terminator, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. What does the Terminator have in common with Moxon's master and other representations of artificial intelligence?

9) Does Terminator present a plausible vision of the future? Why or why not?

Questions on Snow Crash:

Note: If we spend much time talking about Snow Crash, I would like to focus on how Stephenson represents several aspects of life in the future.

1) Is the Cold War a factor in Snow Crash? If the arms race is not Stephenson's primary preoccupation, what is?

2) What does the American landscape look like in the future?

3) How is government represented? How are corporations represented?

4) What is the quality of life for the average American in Snow Crash?

5) How does Stephenson represent the future of computer technology? Is his vision of virtual reality, data processing, and hackers realistic?

6) Which aspects of the setting of the novel do you find most plausible? Which do you find least plausible?

Passages: Since we'll spend considerable time talking about film today (and since we have all of next week to discuss Stephenson), I am not including any passages at this time.