The Terminator Index

Latest movement
Awaiting first reading.

What this is

Scope, method, sources, limits

The Terminator Index measures how far real science and engineering have got towards building a Terminator. Forty‑four components, each scored against what the films require, rolled into one level from 0 to 1000.

How it is scored

Each component carries a Terminator Readiness Level from 1 to 9, mirroring NASA's ladder, and a spec fraction: how much of the canonical requirement the best real system meets. Progress is the product of the two. A fielded technology delivering three per cent of what the films demand scores three per cent. The index is the weighted mean.

Where the numbers come from

Two tracks. Canon establishes what the fiction requires, from films, shooting scripts and novelizations, quotes checked against source text. The real‑world side scores the state of the art from papers, spec sheets, benchmarks, filings and company reporting. Figures that prove to be marketing or fan wiki are excluded, and recorded as such.

How it updates

Components are re‑checked on their own cadence, a fortnight for fast‑moving AI entries, six months for general relativity. New findings enter through one authenticated endpoint that records what moved, by how much, on which source. Retractions and failed demonstrations move the index down.

What it is not

Not a forecast. It reports where things stand, not when anything gets built. Spec fractions are judgements, and every entry states the comparison behind its number so it can be argued with.

Provenance

Computed from the dataset, not written by hand

Source mix

Canon verification

Download the dataset ↓

All 44 components

One cell per component, grouped by category · select for detail

Constituents

Sort any column · select a row for canon, gap, evidence and movers
Index initialising
No component is published before its evidence resolves.

Where the systems live

Coloured by status · select a region to filter

Methodology

The arithmetic, in the open

The level

progress = (TRL / 9) × spec fraction

TI = 1000 × Σ(w · progress) / Σ(w)

Forty-four components across fourteen categories, total weight 313. Weights are editorial and published: they state how load-bearing a component is for fielding a Terminator, not how interesting it is.

Terminator Readiness Level

A one-to-nine ladder mirroring NASA's Technology Readiness Level, applied to a different destination. One is “the physics permits it”. Nine is “in routine operational use, at the required specification”. We score the best demonstrated system in the world, not the median one.

Spec fraction

How much of the canonical requirement the best real system meets. A mature, fielded technology delivering three per cent of what the films require scores 0.03. Each entry states the comparison, so the number can be argued with.

What moves it

Dated, cited, resolving evidence, and nothing else — papers, spec sheets, benchmark tables, filings, regulation. Retractions and failed demonstrations move it down. An index that only rises is not an index.