Miles Bennett Dyson
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Dr. Miles Bennett Dyson (195?-1995) is an integral character in the fictional Terminator universe, portrayed by Joe Morton in 1991's big-budget Terminator sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
His primary importance is as the inventor of Skynet and associated technologies, such as neural networks and advanced microprocessors. He is Director of Special Projects at Cyberdyne Systems Corporation, and therefore "the man most directly responsible" for Judgment Day.
In the film, Dyson is convinced by Sarah Connor, John Connor and a visiting T-800 to enact a direct inversion of history, ultimately perishing along with his enterprising AI research as Cyberdyne headquarters is destroyed by a polydichloric euthimal bomb. He is survived by his wife and children.
In some apocryphal Terminator novels, Miles Dyson's research is completed by his son, Daniel.
Dyson's character in the movie is somewhat counterintuitive to what might be expected of the man essentially responsible for ending the world. Far from being an amoral weapons designer, Dyson is portrayed as a very caring father and husband whose intentions for the Skynet technology are specifically to help his fellow man. When he is assaulted by Sarah Connor and held at gunpoint, his only instincts were to protect his wife and son and despite his terror, he did not beg for mercy from or attempt to bargain with what he saw as a crazed gunwoman.
After the T-800 explains to him what will result from his research, he immediately decides to abandon the Skynet project, and quickly agrees with both Sarah and the Terminator that everything in his laboratory at Cyberdyne must also be destroyed as soon as possible. Dyson's characterization in Terminator 2 provides a more developed understanding of the supercomputer's origins; whereas Kyle Reese described a very bleak and sinister beginning for Skynet in the first movie, the introduction of Miles Dyson shows the audience a much more complex and multi-faceted evolution.
[edit] External links
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day at the Internet Movie Database
- Cyberdyne Systems Filming Location
- 'T2 and Technology', an essay by chief technical consultant Larry Yeager
