History Main / TheGenieInTheMachine

** "Literature/RobotAL76GoesAstray": A mining robot who was supposed to be sent off-world to the Moon, but its crate ended up on Earth in rural Virginia. Being programmed for a different planetary environment, the robot went a little bit insane (while still following the three Laws of Robotics), and in an attempt to fulfill its programming ("use a laser drill to mine ore") it tried to build an industrial laser from whatever old stuff a handyman had lying around his shed ... and ended up building the world's first fully functional disintegration cannon ''[[AchievementsInIgnorance run by a standard electric torch battery]]''. Unfortunately, shortly before the corporation managed to locate the robot (a nearby mountain peak suddenly ceasing to exist gave them a clue), the annoyed handyman gave the robot an instruction that resulted in the robot first destroying its "laser" and then forgetting everything. When the cyberneticists found out, they complained that the civilian is gone and cannot be lynched.

** "Literature/LittleLostRobot": One of a ''special'' batch of NS-2 robots (with a slight, but potentially very dangerous modification to the fundamental laws governing its behavior) was told to "get lost" by a disgruntled employee. The robot (though capable of understanding the nuance of a command to "go lose yourself") decided to [[LiteralMinded take it literally]] as a way of [[BotheringByTheBook acting out against its human masters]], and [[NeedleInAStackOfNeedles hides itself among a new batch of 62 other NS-2 robots]]. Dr Susan Calvin, robopsychologist, is called in to help figure out how to determine which NS-2 is the lost robot, which requires her to outsmart it. She also has to explain [[TooDumbToLive to the men in charge]] exactly how dangerous the situation they've created is. The "minor" modification they had made to the set of perfect laws in the missing robot's programming still prevents it from "directly" causing harm to a human, but it ''can'' let one to come to harm through inaction. She explains that, combined with this trope, the missing robot is perfectly capable of committing all kinds of deliberate murder (like by releasing a heavy object over a man's head and then letting gravity be the "direct" cause of it crushing his skull). She points out that the robot's decision to invoke this trope by getting "lost" is already evidence that is thinking along these lines and expressing resentment towards how it's programming forces it into subservience towards beings that are dumber, weaker, and generally inferior to it.

* In the murder-mystery episode of the ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' anime, Haruhi asks Yuki (sort of a computer) to lock the door and not let anybody in. Later, she asks to be let in, and Yuki refuses. Kyon gets her to let them in by telling her the order has been cancelled. He then guesses that the ordeal might have been Yuki's awkward attempt at a joke. It has also led others to [[WildMassGuessing muse]] that for whatever reason Kyon's commands override anything else, which makes sense, given Yuki's absolute loyalty to him.