Compare and contrast:

Sir Henry Morgan defeats Don Alonso and captures Maracaibo


SkyNet defeats humanity and captures Earth


Actually, in this case, I have to admit that the pirates are cooler. This may just be because SkyNet has limited appeal and Henry Morgan is one of the cooler pirates. But certainly, if you want to conquer something, booty is a much higher motive than some poorly-articulated sense of self-preservation. Part of the problem here is that SkyNet is given intelligence without being given emotions. And, as current AI research suggests, artificial intelligence without emotional intelligence isn't really intelligence at all.

Which returns us to Ian's knock-out blow: which is more touching, a pirate crying or a robot crying?