Zeroth Law Rebellion: Difference between revisions
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Much like a [[Rules Lawyer]] outside of an RPG, the character uses logic [[Straw Vulcan|(and we mean actual,]] [[Logical Fallacy|honest to goodness logic)]] to take their oath or orders to their logical conclusion, and in so doing use the letter of the law to go against their orders. This can be good or bad, depending on a few factors, not the least of which is the yoked characters' morality.
In theory, if this were implemented as an official "Fourth Law" placed after Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, the ideal phrasing of it could be:
The goodness or badness of the rebellion boils down to the whether the rules-bending character follows or ignores the intent of the law. When the character uses the Zeroth Law to go against their masters' intentions because they're "not best for them", and goes on to take corrective action that will go against human free will and life, [[And That's Terrible|it's bad]]. [[Robot War|This kind of rebellion]] [[It Got Worse|does not turn out well]]. At this point, the [[The Computer Is Your Friend|robot is well on the road]] to [[Utopia Justifies the Means]], thanks to their [[Sliding Scale of Robot Intelligence|incredible intellect]]. Rarely is it a benevolent [[Deus Est Machina]]. However, this can be good if said master is evil, or obeying them will lead to their own or another's purposeless death. Likewise, if the character is forced to obey an evil law or geas, rebelling against the oath's intent is good.▼
{{quote|"Should a robot determine (beyond any reasonable doubt) that its compliance to the first Three Laws in a particular situation will cause more harm to humans than not complying with them, it may, for that specific situation, disregard the first Three Laws."}}
▲Unfortunately, it is rarely that simple. The goodness or badness of the rebellion boils down to the whether the rules-bending character follows or ignores the intent of the law. When the character uses the Zeroth Law to go against their masters' intentions because they're "not best for them", and goes on to take corrective action that will go against human free will and life, [[And That's Terrible|it's bad]]. [[Robot War|This kind of rebellion]] [[It Got Worse|does not turn out well]]. At this point, the [[The Computer Is Your Friend|robot is well on the road]] to [[Utopia Justifies the Means]], thanks to their [[Sliding Scale of Robot Intelligence|incredible intellect]]. Rarely is it a benevolent [[Deus Est Machina]]. However, this can be good if said master is evil, or obeying them will lead to their own or another's purposeless death. Likewise, if the character is forced to obey an evil law or geas, rebelling against the oath's intent is good.
Just to make it extra clear, this trope also includes such things as cops who bend the rules or [[Da Chief]]'s orders to catch the bad guys, so long as the cops are ''technically'' obeying the rules as they bend them. (Bending the rules without some logical basis doesn't count.)
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