What Measure Is a Non-Human?/Film: Difference between revisions

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* Inverted in ''[[The 13th Warrior]]'', wherein the protagonist learns that the barbaric antagonists are humans wearing bearskins rather then demonic trolls, and is ''more'' willing to kill them as he is distraught that human beings could commit such violence and barbarism.

* Seemingly subverted in George Miller's ''[[Happy Feet]]'', though Your Mileage May Vary, depending on your interpretation.

* [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s novels and their film adaptations ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' and ''[[2010: The Year We Make Contact]]'' explore this subject with H.A.L. 9000, the [[AI Is a Crapshoot|AI]] [[Master Computer]] of the USS ''Discovery''. In ''2001'', HAL goes insane and murders the crew, before being disconnected by the final surviving astronaut, Dave Bowman. The reason for this is not fully revealed until ''2010''—he was given [[Logic Bomb|irreconcilably conflicting orders]]. After he's restored to full functioning, however, it suddenly becomes necessary for the astronauts to leave Jupiter immediately or be killed. The climactic conflict arises over whether it's acceptable to ask HAL to risk his own destruction to save the humans aboard the ''Leonov''. The majority of the crew is for lying to him and disconnecting him if he fails to comply, but Dr. Chandra, HAL's creator, feels that he will make the proper decision if told the whole truth. {{spoiler|Chandra turns out to be correct.}} Their final farewell is a [[Tear Jerker]].

* [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s novels and their film adaptations ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' and ''[[2010: The Year We Make Contact]]'' explore this subject with H.A.L. 9000, the [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|AI]] [[Master Computer]] of the USS ''Discovery''. In ''2001'', HAL goes insane and murders the crew, before being disconnected by the final surviving astronaut, Dave Bowman. The reason for this is not fully revealed until ''2010''—he was given [[Logic Bomb|irreconcilably conflicting orders]]. After he's restored to full functioning, however, it suddenly becomes necessary for the astronauts to leave Jupiter immediately or be killed. The climactic conflict arises over whether it's acceptable to ask HAL to risk his own destruction to save the humans aboard the ''Leonov''. The majority of the crew is for lying to him and disconnecting him if he fails to comply, but Dr. Chandra, HAL's creator, feels that he will make the proper decision if told the whole truth. {{spoiler|Chandra turns out to be correct.}} Their final farewell is a [[Tear Jerker]].

{{quote|'''Curnow:''' So it's him or us? I vote us. All opposed? [...] The ayes have it.}}

* Uncomfortably invoked by the "boarding the Arks" scene in ''[[2012|Two Thousand Twelve]]''. Let's see, based on the onscreen action, they've saved about 1,000 humans... and two giraffes. And ''no'' [[That Poor Plant|plants]]. Good [[Homestar Runner|jarb]]. (Yeah, yeah, we know it's an obvious Noah's Ark parallel, but...)