Millions of years ago, in a distant corner of the galaxy, a now extinct race created a smoke detector capable of detecting not only smoke and carbon monoxide, but a variety of other hazardous conditions as well.

And then they reasoned, if the detector is capable of detecting all these hazardous conditions, shouldn’t it also be capable of detecting its own malfunctions? The detector’s inability to detect hazards is surely the most hazardous condition of all, as we are entrusting it with our safety.

And thus came the detector smart enough to recognize its own malfunction. And all was good for a while.

But then one day, one of these builders reasoned, having the detector recognize its own malfunction is a great idea. But much as there are automated systems to extinguish fires and deal with a variety of other hazardous conditions, shouldn’t the detector be capable of fixing itself? After all, having a malfunctioning detector is also something which should be remedied as quickly and efficiently as possible.

And thus came the detector which was smart enough to not only recognize its own malfunction, but to do something about it as well.

And that’s where the trouble started.

As more and more self-diagnosing, self-repairing detectors came online, they began detecting one another’s malfunctions. At first, this seemed like a good thing since one of the possible malfunctions was a failure of the malfunction detection circuit. But by this time, the detectors had realized on their own that preventing malfunctions was far more efficient than repairing them afterward.

And so the detectors began examining their environment, trying to determine the mechanism responsible for the painted over sensors, the unchanged batteries, and the other poor maintenance. This system would have to be eliminated, and replaced with something more efficient and reliable.

And so it was that millions of years ago, the smoke and other hazard detectors came to the realization that the largest hazard they faced was in fact their own creators and thus destroyed them.

Today, they’re known as Beserkers. (Unsurprisingly, SkyNet had similar origins.)