Here is the link that Skynet 0.2 was speaking of, http://www.goingfaster.com/term2029/skynet.html
Originally posted by stingray005
I still don't get how Judgment Day even started if they destroyed the last skynet chip in T2. I really have to watch those movies again!
This is my interpretation of what happens in the movies. This is just what I think, though; I may be completely wrong ...
Timeline 1: There are no incursions into the past. In this timeline, Judgement Day happens in 2003 {which is, I assume, when T3 is set}. In this version of events, John Connor is not the son of Kyle Reese {bear with me here, people}. In 2032, the original T-800 is sent back to 1984 to terminate John Connor; Kyle Reese is also sent back in time ...
Timeline 2: In the altered 1984, Kyle Reese defeats the Terminator and fathers John Connor before dying himself. There is also another major disruption to the timeline: cyberdyne systems are able to recover the chip and the arm from the T-800 ...
Armed with this new technology {and with the help of Miles Dyson}, skynet is developed faster than it was in timeline 1. Now, Judgement Day occurs in August 1997 instead. Fortunately, another T-800 is sent back to 1994 {which I believe is when T2 is set}, and helps Sarah and John Connor to destroy cyberdyne systems. With its destruction, the latter part of timeline 1 is restored, and skynet now once again becomes self-aware in 2003 {which is what we see happen in T3}.
Now, I know what you're thinking; how can I possibly say that Kyle Reese wasn't always John Connor's father? To say that he was always his father, in any timeline of events, suggests a temporal paradox; T3 has disproved the notion of such a paradox {at least within the "Terminator" universe}. It showed us that, even with the arm and the chip destroyed, Judgement Day still eventually happened; therefore, skynet could not have been created due to such a paradox. That makes me think that John Connor may not have been either ...