Second Law, My Ass: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Bender''': Admit it, you all think robots are just machines built by humans to make their lives easier.

'''Fry''': Well, aren't they?

 

[["Three Laws"-Compliant|Asimov's Second Law of Robotics]] states: "''A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law [which prohibits them from harming humans via action or inaction].''" This trope is when a robot decides he is no longer required to take orders from the stupid, squishy, inefficient, ugly, foolish, arrogant, dim-witted, slow, weak, carbon-based humans just because "they made him."

A common trope in [[Science Fiction|Sci-fi]] comedies, this is a robot that is the exact opposite of the typical [[Robot Buddy|helpful machine teammate]]. Crude, rude and possibly alcoholic, the Bad Robot exists for the audacity of the situation. The opposite of [["Three Laws"-Compliant]]. Usually will be the [[Token Evil Teammate]]. Bad robots that can be turned good when the plot demands it have a [[Morality Dial]].

 

 

* NB from ''[[Tenchi Muyo! GXP]]'', Seina's [[Robot Buddy]] (and [[Author Avatar]] for the series' director, [[Names to Know in Anime|Shinichi Watanabe]]). NB frequently ditches Seina in order to roam around [[Dirty Old Man|videotaping the girls' locker rooms and peeping on his harem]].

 

* ''[[Nextwave]]'' has Aaron Stack. Though he wasn't like that before ''Nextwave''. Aaron used to be a very nice guy, although even back then he could get very impatient with humans' failings. Then in his [[Darker and Edgier]] series ''X-51,'' he got put through all kinds of hell through no fault of his own; then got taken away by the Celestials only to be returned to Earth with no explanation other than that he'd been somehow found unfit.<ref>The Celestials said he was "total ☠☠☠☠"</ref> Since then, he's been extremely bitter and depressed, and has discovered he's capable of getting drunk.

* [[Death's Head|Deaths Head]], Freelance Peacekeeping Agent.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* ''[[Discworld]]''

** There are golems which are fairly similar to Robots and have their own version of the three laws written on their chem, the words that power them, which restrict them on what they can and cannot do except for Dorfl in the City Watch books. He has no chem anymore but continues to move and live and can do things that are could not be done by normal golems. The only reason he has yet to go [[Crush! Kill! Destroy!]] is he chooses not to.

* The No-Law robot Caliban is not bound by the Second Law (Or the First or Third, either), so he will only obey an order from a human if he thinks that it serves some purpose. The fact that one of the first orders he ever received was from a drunken hick trying to get him to shoot himself probably contributed to this.

 

** It's an odd example of this trope. She generally obeys the Connors, but relatively early on she makes it clear that if orders given by the John Connor on the show conflict with directives from the future John Connor that sent her back in time, she obeys Future John's directives. What those directives actually are were never made clear on the show. Finally, we find out that some reprogrammed terminators occasionally go crazy and revert to their usual [[Crush! Kill! Destroy!]] programming for no apparent reason. So she's Second Law compliant to one John, but not the one on the show, and no one knows exactly what orders she's following, and the possibility is open that she might stop obeying even those directives.

* Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo from ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' are constructed with the capacity to disobey, insult, and disagree with their human companions. It's implied that Joel Robinson built them this way specifically because he desperately needed the intellectual stimulation; when he briefly reprograms them to be ''nice'' to him, he finds their servility tedious and boring.

 

== [[Role Playing Games]] ==

** Only Tycho and Gabe's spouses dislike the Fruit Fucker. Gabe and Tycho have no qualms drinking the juice it makes. It even saves their lives when they are trapped in a zombie infested mall...[[Squick|by "juicing" the zombies.]]

* Leo Caesius in ''[[AH Dot Com the Series]]'' to some extent, especially after he gets infected with a virus in the episode "Leo Atrox".

* [[Star Wars|R2-D2]] as played by Pete in ''[[Darths and Droids]]''.

* [[Rob and Elliot]] had a robot with a morality dial. They met it at a party. It was unhappy being good, so he set it to evil. It thanked him. Then it punched him. Then it left.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Robot Roll Call]]