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Just Think of the Potential: Difference between revisions
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[[File:ForScience.jpg|link=The Venture Brothers|frame|As you can see, [[The Venture Brothers|Doctor Venture's]] "Ooo-Ray" has only peaceful applications.]]
{{quote|''"When you've been a wizard as long as I have, my boy, you'll learn that as soon as you find anything that offers amazing possibilities for the improvement of the human condition it's best to put the lid back on and pretend it never happened."''
|'''The Senior Wrangler'''|''[[The Last Continent]]''}}
Also called simply "[[Potential Applications]]".
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* Think of the Military Potential!
* Think of the Lives We Could Improve!
* Think of the Money We Could Make!<ref>Despite this being on the list, this trope should not be confused with [[Think of the Advertisers!]] Well, not usually.</ref>
A character or characters with vision, sometimes representing a large organization, encounters a new, esoteric technology, and suddenly realizes all the Potential Applications it could be put to. The technology can come in any form- maybe a [[Mad Scientist]] just constructed a group of [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]], maybe astronauts have brought back a [[Black Box]] filled with [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]], or maybe biologists from an [[Animal Wrongs Group]] have just discovered [[Killer Rabbit]]s in the Amazon.
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{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
* In various ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' continuities, Dr. Connors is convinced that his new invention can regrow lost limbs- but mostly it just turns people into megalomaniacal giant lizards. Often, Spidey must convince Dr. Connors his technology is too dangerous to save the day. Other times, he just beats the crap out of him.▼
** To be fair, his technology turns people into giant lizards ''with all their limbs intact''. So it does work, for a given value of work.▼
** Sounds like an extreme case of [[Yes but What Does Zataproximetacine DO]]?▼
* In ''[[Ultimate Marvel]]'', this is a huge [[Genre Blind|genre blind-spot]] for Nick Fury, who is normally quite [[The Chessmaster]]. Basically, this is the main [[Justified Trope|justification]] for [[Joker Immunity]] in ''[[Ultimate Marvel]]'' - Nick Fury wants to keep super-freaks alive so he can study them and keep the United States in the lead in the [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|superhuman arms race]].▼
* The Extremis arc of ''[[Iron Man]]'' flavours this with a little [[What the Hell, Hero?]]. Yet another
** That actually explains more of ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' than it should have.▼
* In ''[[Spider-Man: Noir]]'', Dr. Otto Octavius conducts inhumane experiments on apes. Robbie Robertson is disgusted by what he sees in Octavius' lab, but Peter tells him the possibilities for humanity are endless. Robbie is adamant that Octavius' work is "the ''opposite'' of humanity."▼
==
* In ''[[Alien (franchise)|Aliens]]'', the Weyland-Yutani corporation believes the Xenomorphs to have great Military Potential, repeatedly allowing their employees to get slaughtered by Xenomorphs in their attempts to study them. Since Weyland-Yutani stands to make money off of this, they are also Thinking of All the Money They Could Make.
** It is implied, subtly in the movie and more overt in other sources, that the Xenomorphs were originally used as a biological weapon, either bred specifically for that purpose or captured somewhere, so it isn't as if Weyland-Yutani are operating without precedent. However considering the species that used them as a weapon were also driven to extinction by them, the trope is invoked even harder.
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* In the various ''[[RoboCop]]'' installments, Omni Consumer Products is so focused on making money that it rarely builds its killer robots with proper safeguards.
** [http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down Truth in Television]
** This has actually happened when demonstrating automated AA guns. Fortunately, the first time this ever happened, the cannon ran out of ammunition before it decided to shoot at the observers. A
* In ''[[Short Circuit]] 2'', when the street hustler Fred Ritter realizes how much money the self-aware robot Johnny 5 is worth, he immediately tries to trick him into being sold to a corporation. On top of that, a major subplot of the movie is one of Johnny 5's creators trying to start a business selling toy versions of the robot. A rare instance of the good guys trying to make money off of the technology.
** Similarly, the original movie started with a demonstration of how effective Johnny 5 and his "brothers" were as mechanical warriors in an attempt to gain more money and military interest for their mass production. After Johnny 5 "malfunctions", its creator, Newton Crosby (Ph.D.) attempts to convince his boss of the advantages to capturing the robot alive and studying what made it go "rogue", in the first place, and how it's affected it.
* In the ''[[Friday the 13th (film)|Friday the
* In the 1993 version of ''[[Godzilla]]
** In ''Godzilla
* In the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' movie ''[[Danger!! Death Ray]]'', a scientist truly believes his death ray can and should be used only for peaceful purposes. He is immediately kidnapped by a group of evil people who want to use the ray for evil purposes, to the surprise of no one in the theater.
* This is the excuse {{spoiler|Lamar}} gives in ''[[Minority Report]]'', to justify {{spoiler|the exploitation of three children, the experimentation and deaths of several others, the murder of a woman, and the attempted framing of John Anderson.}}
{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Lamar}}:''' Think of all the lives that little girl has saved, think about all the lives she will save...}}
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* The [[Big Bad]] gives this speech to [[Hugh Grant]]'s character at the end of ''[[Extreme Measures]]'' as a justification for his inhumane experiments on the homeless. The kicker is, the discovery does indeed hold enormous potential for all of humanity ({{spoiler|they have learned how to regrow nerve cells but haven't yet learned to stop the growth}}) but the cost is what causes the protagonist to reject the notion.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
▲* In various ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' continuities, Dr. Connors is convinced that his new invention can regrow lost limbs- but mostly it just turns people into megalomaniacal giant lizards. Often, Spidey must convince Dr. Connors his technology is too dangerous to save the day. Other times, he just beats the crap out of him.
▲** To be fair, his technology turns people into giant lizards ''with all their limbs intact''. So it does work, for a given value of work.
▲** Sounds like an extreme case of [[Yes but What Does Zataproximetacine DO]]?
▲* In ''[[Ultimate Marvel]]'', this is a huge [[Genre Blind|genre blind-spot]] for Nick Fury, who is normally quite [[The Chessmaster]]. Basically, this is the main [[Justified Trope|justification]] for [[Joker Immunity]] in ''[[Ultimate Marvel]]'' - Nick Fury wants to keep super-freaks alive so he can study them and keep the United States in the lead in the [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|superhuman arms race]].
▲* The Extremis arc of ''[[Iron Man]]'' flavours this with a little [[What the Hell, Hero?]]. Yet another goverment-sponsored project to create supersoldiers, the Extremis virus can be programmed to make people wholly new, nigh-invulnerable, superpowered bodies; naturally, [[Failure Is the Only Option|it also drives them insane if it doesn't kill them in the process]]. Tony Stark shuts the whole operation down... though not before he's used it on ''[[Omniscient Morality License|himself]]'', enough to heal fatal injuries he took fighting such a super soldier and turn him into a [[Technopath]]. In the aftermath, he's gleeful about his newfound efficiency, productivity and response time, and is frustrated that his friends can't see why turning himself into even ''more'' of an emotionally distant workaholic cyborg [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?|is awesome]].
▲** That actually explains more of ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' than it should have.
▲* In ''[[Spider-Man: Noir]]'', Dr. Otto Octavius conducts inhumane experiments on apes. Robbie Robertson is disgusted by what he sees in Octavius' lab, but Peter tells him the possibilities for humanity are endless. Robbie is adamant that Octavius' work is "the ''opposite'' of humanity."
▲== Literature ==
* In the novel ''[[Jurassic Park]]'', John Hammond is convinced the technology to clone dinosaurs is a gold mine. In the movie, he just wants to make children happy. In both versions, both of the above mentioned likely plot developments come into play: The park is stocked with dinosaurs that are incredibly dangerous, and a corporate spy lets the dinosaurs loose as part of a plan to steal the technology that made them.
* Spoofed in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[
** There's also Leonard of Quirm, who compulsively sketches the blueprints for lethal weaponry alongside his more artistic works, complete with lists of needed materials and assembly instructions. Naturally, he's sure no one would ever actually use them against ''people'', although some might be helpful against wild animals or for moving mountains out of the way.
* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Boromir thinks the One Ring has the potential to destroy the [[Big Bad]]. It does, in the hands of a sufficiently powerful and strong-willed person, just with the [[Pyrrhic Victory|minor side effect]] of the person [[Artifact of Doom|becoming just as evil and dangerous as Sauron]] in the process.
* In ''[[The Day of the Triffids]]'', Triffid oil is more effective than any other oil, and triffid "flesh" can be used as feedstock. Of course, the latter fact cuts both ways, but [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?]]?
** Averted in practice, as
*** There is still some shade of it, at least in the book.
* Subverted in [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Ethan of Athos]]'', when the title character meets a runaway [[Psychic Powers|telepath]] fleeing a black ops clean-up crew. Said telepath, who has been bred for applications in espionage and interrogation, is astonished when the first thing through Dr. Ethan Urquhart's head is how wonderful such an ability would be when dealing with pre/non-verbal patients.
* In the Doris Lessing short story ''No Witchcraft for Sale'', a colonial Rhodesian family's African cook saves their son from blindness from snake venom with the use of a local plant root. However, when the family tries to persuade him to tell them which plant it was so he can sell it to a pharmaceutical company, he refuses, as it is sacred knowledge. This causes some tension with his employers.
* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'' Dumbledore reveals he saw potential in the Deathly Hallows but chides himself for his foolishness in not realising that Grindelwald merely wanted to use them for evil.
** To be fair to Dumbledore, he had a serious case of [[Ho Yay|unrequited love]] towards Grindlewald.
* In ''[[Ciaphas Cain|Ice Caves]]'' this the way the [[Ave Machina|techpriests]] respond to Cain's demand that the uncovered [[Robot War|Necron]] tomb must be collapsed ASAP. It doesn't help that they intentionally had a refinery constructed on that particular site so they could dip their grabby mechadendrits into the tomb.
** This error, like many, is self-correcting.
* Ceciel rants about this in the ''[[Knight and Rogue Series]]'' when she reveals her research to give humans magic. She talks about how many people it would help if she gave healers magic. Michael thinks of how many people it would harm if criminals got her research.
* Even though it causes {{spoiler|the deaths of two people}} the titular character of ''[[The Chronicles of Professor Jack Baling]]'' still can’t help but see the potential applications of his disintegrator gun.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==▼
▲== Live-Action TV ==
* One of the all-time classic ''[[Doctor Who]]'' stories, ''The Power of the Daleks'', was built around this trope. A Dalek spaceship turns up on a colony planet and the chief scientist is amazed by the technical sophistication of it, and the Daleks themselves. [[Kill'Em All|It doesn't end well.]]
* In ''[[Jekyll]]'', the villains frequently try to convince Jackman of the potential that his unique and bizarre physiology has for the world, as well as the potential to make them all ''very'' rich.
* In ''[[Alien Nation (TV series)|Alien Nation]]'', the characters take down a doctor who's killing Newcomers and using their organs to retard aging in his human clients. George thinks that his discovery should be shared—maybe if something good can be made out of this, the victims won't have died for nothing. But Matt isn't having any of it, and tosses all the data into a fire.
{{quote|'''Matt''': ''Never'' bet on the goodness of the human race.}}
* In ''[[Primeval]]''{{'}}s third season, Christine Johnson and her subordinates are attempting to control the anomalies in order to turn Future Predators (the extremely dangerous evolved bats) into soldiers. The unspoken implications are blatant throughout the season, and the second-last episode of the season has Hellen Cutter outright say blame Christine for the death of the human race before feeding her to a Future Predator... which might almost come off as a [[Karmic Death]].
** It is clear that Helen is batshit (pun intended) insane. She keeps accusing random people of causing the apocalypse, and then allies with Leek, who's keeping Future Predators (among others) as slaves. She then shoots her husband Nick, who came back to rescue her from an explosion she caused.
*** Helen's final solution for preventing apocalypse - erasing the human race by killing the early hominids in the distant past.
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* Half of the products [[Better Off Ted|Veridian Dynamics]] makes end up being dangerous and unsafe to their consumers. Instead of making them safer, their usual response is to sell them to the military as weapons. The other half of their products are intended for military applications from the start.
* Pretty much the bread and butter of ''[[Dollhouse]]''. The main story of season one contains but one dark hint about it, but the potential applications are ''all'' up in the story's business by season two. Oh, believe us, they're no empty threat.
* That's how some corrupt
== [[Music]] ==▼
▲== Music ==
* Dr. Wily tries to convince Dr. Light of this in [[The Protomen]]. He's not convinced, but turns on the machines anyway.
* Dr. Wily in [[The Megas]] also has shades of this, seeing the machines as both his tools and his 'children'.
== [[New Media]] ==
* In ''[[Descendant of a Demon Lord]]'' Hanae had this attitude towards a goo that Celes considered very hazardous. Hanae didn't understand how the slime worked, didn't think she could figure it out, and didn't care. Hanae thought she could find applications for it, with parts of it acting as a [[Black Box]]. Mages are sometimes like [[Mad Scientist]]s in this setting.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* This trope is mocked in the ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' supplement ''Technomancer's Toybox'', most specifically with the "X117 Death Ray (Intended for Purely Peaceful Purposes)":
{{quote|Dr. Lightwell has retreated from the world in disgust at the abuse his invention has been put to, although he was never able to explain satisfactorily just what peaceful purposes a Death Ray could be used for.}}
== [[Video Games]] ==
* On a related note to the music section, Dr. Light though long and hard about the potential of his last creation, [[Mega Man X]], and sealed him away in a capsule to be awoken in the future. The reasons vary between the original SNES title and the PSP remake. The original states it was to run a 30-year diagnostic to ensure X wouldn't go berserk, Dr. Light having seen [[Mega Man (video game)|such events]] [[Genre Savvy|many times.]] The remake rewrites this, as per the creator's
▲* On a related note to the music section, Dr. Light though long and hard about the potential of his last creation, [[Mega Man X]], and sealed him away in a capsule to be awoken in the future. The reasons vary between the original SNES title and the PSP remake. The original states it was to run a 30-year diagnostic to ensure X wouldn't go berserk, Dr. Light having seen [[Mega Man (video game)|such events]] [[Genre Savvy|many times.]] The remake rewrites this, as per the creator's orignal plan, to where X is already safe, but Dr. Light feels that humanity [[You Are Not Ready|isn't mature enough]] to handle someone like X. Dr. Light avoided this trope, now Dr. Cain on the other hand...
* In the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' universe, Umbrella Corporation saw the zombie-creating T-Virus as a potential pharmaceutical. It brings dead cells back to "life", after all. Of course, it gets out of control. Cue [[Zombie Apocalypse]].
** This is obviously not the case by ''RE5'', where Ozwell Spencer explicitly comes out and says that all the founding members of Umbrella basically just wanted to rule the world [[A God Am I|as gods]]. The pharmaceutical business was a front for the bio-weapons research.
** The medicinal
*** Not quite, in the
* Done ridiculously in ''[[Phantasmagoria 2|Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of the Flesh]]''. The company that Curtis works for has managed to {{spoiler|open a portal to another dimension. One of their emails notes that the military is not interested in this, so they use it to trade the aliens on the other side substances so they'll synthesize a weight loss drug.}}
** It's also a subtly addictive antidepressant. They'd probably make a few billion with it.
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* In ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'', this plus [[Inventional Wisdom]] is the backbone of Aperture Science's [[Mad Scientist]] approach to research, and quoted nearly verbatim by founder Cave Johnson in ''[[Portal 2]]'', who has no use for safe science and considers anyone with moral or ethical constraints to be a wimp. The triumphant example of this is The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, which arose from government-funded research into making a better ''shower curtain''. GLaDOS, the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System than runs the Enrichment Centre and {{spoiler|[[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|flooded it with a deadly neurotoxin]]}} was originally a fuel system de-icer. Overkill is Aperture Science's specialty, due both to competing with [[For Science!|Black Mesa]] and its founder being completely batshit insane.
* This is the main reason for private industry funding the archaeological studies of the D'ni city in the ''[[Myst]]'' MMO ''URU''. Strangely, the government itself seems to have passed on the opportunity to develop teleportation, access to unlimited resources, and devices that can instantly communicate over any distance. Maybe they were too [[Genre Savvy]] for their own good.
* In ''[[Half Life]] 2: Episode Two'' Dr. Kleiner speaks ''this exact line'' when the Borealis, an Aperture Science research vessel (see above) which
** To be fair, the ship is owned by Aperture "We created a handheld portal device and an advanced, sentient AI not to mention semi-sentient turrets with the intention of somehow using all this to improve shower curtain technology" Science.
* Similar to the Aliens example above is the Mana Cannon of ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' and ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]'', which is rediscovered, on average, every two thousand years or so, and every time it is rediscovered, it either wipes out the civilization that rediscovered it, or fails miserably, coming ''dangerously close'' to wiping out the civilization that rediscovered it. Its a weapon that makes nukes look safe, with what seems like a ninety percent chance of backfiring horribly... but think of the military potential such a powerful [[Wave Motion Gun]] has!
* Twice in ''[[Trauma Center]]''. In "Under the Knife 2", a medical researcher realizes that while incredibly deadly, GUILT creates some amusing reactions in people before it becomes active. Sure, there's that whole problem that barring mutations that exist in a very small portion of the populace, GUILT will eventually brutally murder the host, but all that's needed is a way to manipulate the GUILT so that it won't harm anyone, regardless of whether they're a natural host or not. {{spoiler|They fail. But it's not like anyone couldn't see that one coming, given the whole series is about operating on such super-parasites.}}
** Also shows up in ''Trauma Team''. A pathology professor discovers a ridiculously virulent form of
* Avernus' research in ''[[Dragon Age]]'' which comes from horrific experiments on his fellow Grey Wardens involving blood magic to discover the true power of the Taint that the Wardens possess. The Warden has the option to destroy his research and kill him for his crimes; drink the
** This itself is a [[Grey and Gray Morality|morally grey]] decision, as Avernus' research could potentially allow the Wardens to no longer die from the Taint in 30 years, allowing them long and productive lives, as well as becoming even ''more'' effective warriors against the Darkspawn.
== [[Web
* The US military in ''[[Fine Structure]]'' thinks this way about [[Mutant Draft Board|superheroes]].
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* This happens so much on ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' that only [[Genre Blindness]] can explain why any inventor bothers to invent anything at all.
** To be fair, they don't tell stories about the inventions that quietly make the world a better place.
* Dr. Venture on ''[[The Venture Bros]].'' is a healthy mix of this and [[For Science!]]
** Inverted with his Walking Eye. He can't think of any applications (beyond "Walking Eye stuff") and hopes to sell it simply because it looks cool.
* Subverted (as so many things are) on ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', as Dr. Frink admits that "Oh, well to be honest, the ray only has evil applications. You know my wife will be happy, she's hated this whole death ray thing from day one."
* In the
* This is the direct cause for three of the supervillains (Dr. Viper, the Metallikats) and at least one [[Monster of the Week]] (Zed) in ''[[Swat Kats]]'' existing in the first place.
* A rather tragic example was ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' villain Shriek, originally Walter Shreeve. He was formerly the head of a firm that was acquired by Derek Powers, but his attempts to convince Powers that his sonic technology had potential for demolitions didn't impress Powers. ("Dynamite is cheaper", said Powers.) Powers suggested he turn the device into a weapon to assassinate Bruce Wayne (well, it was either that or lose his funding) and the resulting failure drove Shreeve insane, and also deaf. Ironically, what later happened cost Powers ''far'' more money than it ever could have saved him.
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
▲== Real Life ==
* Played with regarding nuclear power. It can be used for cheap energy, or to make a [[Nuke'Em|nuke]]. It was originally developed for the military applications, then they started using it for power.
** The above is actually [[wikipedia:Nuclear power#Origins|nowhere near true]]. Outside of the origins, the processes for using
** Don't forget [[wikipedia:Operation Plowshare|Operation Plowshare]]. "Operation Plowshare ... was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes." [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?]]?
*** [[Less Disturbing in Context]]: It wasn't until the mid-1950s that the scale of the public health hazard presented by radioactive fallout was fully understood and appreciated.
** Project Orion was a hypothetical nuclear-explosion-propelled spaceship design that never [[Incredibly Lame Pun|got off the ground]]. The [[Super Prototype|prototype]] (using conventional explosives) however, did, in fact, fly.
* [[w:Craig Venter|Craig Venter]]'s work to create a synthetic lifeform. Could be [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome]], could be [[Apocalypse How|awful]]. He's treading ''really'' carefully.
* DIYgenomics and BioCurious provide services for do-it-yourself scientists and citizen hobbyists in an effort to support the “garage biologist” movement. However, many are concerned about bio-terrorism and the difficulty government regulars will face in monitoring biological research conducted in the privacy of someone’s home.
* Pretty much any and all scientific research done is either for its potential, or because the researcher wants to know why the world around him functions as it does (which often leads to potential later). Considering all the progress this had led to (economically, medically, socially, etc...) and the fact that the world is still standing, this trope does have its advantages.
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