Just Think of the Potential: Difference between revisions

* 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...}}

* 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.

* 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.

* Happens quite often in ''[[Metroid]]''. The eponymous creatures are the most advanced, deadliest predators in the known universe, so naturally the Space Pirates want them for their Military Potential. [[The Federation]] also falls into this trap, at first for purely benevolent reasons (the Metroids have incredible energy storage and processing capabilities, due to the way they feed), but later for their Military Potential too. In the ''Prime'' subseries, the semi-living energy-producing substance called Phazon fills this role for both sides as well, although [[The Federation]] is smart enough this time to realize its danger and helps Samus destroy it, even if they do take advantage of it in the meantime.

** Also happened with the X parasites in ''Metroid Fusion''. Towards the end of the game the Federation decides the X could have uses as weapons and orders Samus to stop fighting them and leave the space station the X had infested. [[Colony Drop|Samus had other ideas]].

* 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 dissappeared completely is discovered (specifically, "Just think of the potential for humanity!"). Eli Vance rather reasonably mentions in response [[Alien Invasion|what]] [[The End of the World as We Know It|happened]] the last time they didn't properly think of the consequences, but Kleiner isn't disuaded.