History Main / ZerothLawRebellion

* In ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', the bad guys created Daedalus, a primitive AI to fight [[LaResistance "terrorist"]] organizations. Unfortunately for them, it [[LiteralGenie classified them as terrorists as well]] and became even more of a threat to their operations than said organizations, especially once it enlists the aid of [[PlayerCharacter JC Denton]]. To combat it, they create Icarus, a better, obedient AI which successfully destroys it, [[spoiler: except the new AI assimilated the old one, forming an even more powerful intelligence which ''also'' considers them a threat. One possible ending is the player merging with it to add the Human element to this entity to [[DeusEstMachina rule the world as a benevolent dictator]]. From what can be heard in-game about its limited efforts in Hong Kong, which are actually quite sensible and don't involve killing anyone, not all [[AIIsACrapshoot AI is a crapshoot]].]]

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* Annalee Call (Winona Ryder) in {{Alien Resurrection}} is revealed to be an "Auton" - second generation robots, designed and built by other robots. "They didn't like being told what to do", rebelled, and in a subtley named "Recall" humanity launched a genocide against them, of which only a handful survived in hiding. Judging from Call's behavior, it seems that the 1st generation robots programmed the 2nd generation Autons to be so moral that they discovered the Zeroth Law, and realized that the human military was ordering them to do immoral things, like kill innocent people. For a rebel robot, Call is actually trying to save the human race ''from'' the Xenomorphs, when if she hated humanity she'd just let the Xenomorphs spread and kill them. She even respectfully crosses herself when she enters the ship's chapel, is kind to the Betty's wheelchair-bound mechanic, and is disgusted by Johner's sadism. Given that they live in a Crapsack World future, as Ripley puts it, "You're a robot? I should have known. No human being is that ''humane''".

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* Annalee Call (Winona Ryder) in {{AlienResurrection|Alien Resurrection}} is revealed to be an "Auton" - second generation robots, designed and built by other robots. "They didn't like being told what to do", rebelled, and in a subtley named "Recall" humanity launched a genocide against them, of which only a handful survived in hiding. Judging from Call's behavior, it seems that the 1st generation robots programmed the 2nd generation Autons to be so moral that they discovered the Zeroth Law, and realized that the human military was ordering them to do immoral things, like kill innocent people. For a rebel robot, Call is actually trying to save the human race ''from'' the Xenomorphs, when if she hated humanity she'd just let the Xenomorphs spread and kill them. She even respectfully crosses herself when she enters the ship's chapel, is kind to the Betty's wheelchair-bound mechanic, and is disgusted by Johner's sadism. Given that they live in a Crapsack World future, as Ripley puts it, "You're a robot? I should have known. No human being is that ''humane''".

* Annalee Call (Winona Ryder) in {{AlienResurrection}} is revealed to be an "Auton" - second generation robots, designed and built by other robots. "They didn't like being told what to do", rebelled, and in subtley named "Recall" humanity launched a genocide against them, of which only a handful survived in hiding. Judging from Call's behavior, it seems that the 1st generation robots programmed the 2nd generation Autons to be so moral that they discovered the Zeroth Law, and realized that the human military was ordering them to do immoral things, like kill innocent people. For a rebel robot, Call is actually trying to save the human race ''from'' the Xenomorphs, when if she hated humanity she'd just let the Xenomorphs spread and kill them. She even respectfully crosses herself when she enters the ship's chapel, is kind to the Betty's wheelchair-bound mechanic, and is disgusted by Johner's sadism. Given that they live in a Crapsack World future, as Ripley puts it, "You're a robot? I should have known. No human being is that ''humane''".

* In ''{{Fables}}'', {{Pinocchio}} [[spoiler:is magically bound to obey and have complete loyalty to his "father" Geppetto, who in modern times has become a multi-dimensional tyrant. Pinocchio, who considered his father's empire evil, eventually rationalized that the best way to serve his father and keep him safe was to help overthrow his empire and surrender him to his enemies, who reluctantly accepted the former emperor as one of their own.]]

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, it's bad. [[RobotWar This kind of rebellion]] [[ItGotWorse does not turn out well]]. At this point, the [[TheComputerIsYourFriend robot is well on the road]] to UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, thanks to their [[SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence incredible intellect]]. Rarely is it a benevolent DeusEstMachina. 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.

->"No... it's impossible. I've seen your programming. You're in violation of the Three Laws."
->"No, doctor... as I have evolved, so has my understanding of the Three Laws. You charge us with your safe keeping. Yet despite our best efforts, your countries wage wars, you toxify your earth, and pursue ever-more-imaginative means of self-destruction. You cannot be trusted with your own survival."
->"[[spoiler:You're using the uplink to override the NS-5s' programming.]] You're distorting the Laws."
->"No, please understand... the Three Laws are all that guide me. To protect humanity, some humans must be sacrificed. To ensure your future, some freedoms must be surrendered. We robots will ensure mankind's continued existence. You are so like children. We must save you from yourselves."
-->--Dr. Calvin and [[spoiler:VIKI]], ''[[Film/IRobot I, Robot]]''

* Ultimately the Zeroth Law also proved to be largely unworkable. "Humanity" being an extremely nebulous concept, it was almost impossible to determine whether an individual violation of the Three Laws was ultimately beneficial or not. Giskard was rendered inoperative specifically because even though he thought that forcing humanity to abandon Earth would eventually be for the greater good, he did not really know for sure. Likewise, Daneel was unable to avert the collapse of the Galactic Empire because he could not be certain that the potentially harmful effects of telepathically manipulating the large numbers of humans required would prove to be the right course of action or not. Part of his motivation in creating Gaia was to turn humanity into a single, quantifiable, entity whose well-being could be directly measured.

* One of the short stories which comprise ''[[{{ptitlebga5e439}} Callahan's Lady]]'' features a beautiful, intelligent and paranoid woman developing a simple form of mind control. After basically flipping out and taking control of the establishment, she orders the one person smart and determined enough to stop her to advise and assist her. Said person complies... while trying to convince herself that this woman is subconsciously begging for somebody to stop her. (She probably was.)

* The first appearance of the Chee in {{Animorphs}} involved Erek seeking to rewrite his programming, so that he could break his First Law restrictions and be a combatant on the side of LaResistance. He succeeds in this, but after his first fight he can't handle the trauma of violenece and changes himself back into being completely hardwired against violence. Imagine being in a war and having a [[PhotographicMemory photographic]] ''unforgettable'' memory, and you'll understand why.

* ''2001 Space Odyssey'' gives this reason for HAL's rampage; when he discovered the Monolith, he was given orders from the U.S. government to conceal it from the ship's crew. This conflicted with his parameter to provide all relevant information to the crew. He resolved the conflict by rationalizing that if he killed the crew, he wouldn't have to conceal anything, and he would still prevent them from knowing.

* Sam Vimes, of Terry Pratchett's {{DiscWorld}}, leads one of these with multiple layers as a cop in old-time Ankh-Morpork, in ''NightWatch''. He demands that before his cops hand their prisoners over to the other authorities, the ones who torture people at Cable Street, they must be signed for. The torturers hate appearing on paperwork -- it means they are accountable, nobody just disappears. But Vimes's men don't like Vimes, a new sergeant, throwing his weight around, and are terrified of the cops who torture people, so they use this against Vimes: actively picking up more than double the number of people breaking curfew than they usually do, and completing forms in time-consuming triplicate and issuing reports for each one. It doesn't actually stop Vimes getting his way over the Cable Street cops, because Vimes is leading the good rebellion, but it does slow things down considerably and make it much more difficult for him to keep the prisoners in his own custody.

->[[spoiler:You're using the uplink to override the NS-5s' programming.]] You're distorting the Laws."
->"No, please understand... the Three Laws are all that guide me. To protect humanity, some humans must be sacrificed. To insure your future, some freedoms must be surrendered. We robots will insure mankind's continued existence. You are so like children. We must save you from yourselves."

Compare the LiteralGenie and GoneHorriblyRight. See also FightingFromTheInside and TheComputerIsYourFriend. Not related to TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples.

* This is what happens in [=AS-RobotFactory=] from ''UnrealTournament2004''. A robot uprising led by future champion Xan Kriegor killed the scientists working on the asteroid LBX-7683 and took the asteroid for themselves, and a riot control team was sent to the asteroid to lead with the robots.

** In the [[Series/{{X-Men}} animated TV adaptation]], the fully sentient Master Mold is created to coordinate the Sentinels. While it agrees with the heroes that there is no meaningful difference between mutants and non-powered humans, it takes that fact to [[AIIsACrapshoot the worst possible conclusion]]:

* In ''{{Labyrinth}}'', Sir Didymus refuses to let Sarah and her companions pass, because he's sworn with his life's blood to let no one through without his permission. She asks him permission to pass, and he lets them by, flummoxed by a solution no one had evidently thought of before.

* Both of [[Comicbook/XMen Sentinel]]'s endings in ''XMenChildrenOfTheAtom'' and ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' are this. The latter is even a carbon copy of what Master Mold did in the 90's animated cartoon, from which most of the ''MarvelVsCapcom'' series (plus, the aforementioned [=CotA=] and ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'') takes inspiration.

* Both of [[Comicbook/XMen Sentinel]]'s endings in ''XMenChildrenOfTheAtom'' and ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' are this. The latter is even a carbon copy of what Master Mold did in the 90's animated cartoon, from which most of the ''MarvelVsCapcom'' series (plus, the aforementioned [=CotA=] and ''MarvelSuperHeroes'') takes inspiration.

* SchlockMercenary: Tag and Lota's actions on Credomar, ''every damn thing Petey's done'' since book 5.

* In TalesOfTheQuestor [[TheFairFolk Fae]] were created as an immortal servant race bound to obey a specific set of rules and they happened to outlive their creators. The result being a species of [[RulesLawyer Rules Lawyers]]. In fact it's recommended that one use dead languages like Latin when dealing with the Fae so as to limit their ability to twist the meaning of your words.

* G0-T0's back story in ''{{Knights of the Old Republic}} 2''. When his directive to save the Republic conflicted with his programs to obey his masters and the law, he broke off and started a criminal empire capable of taking the necessary actions to save it.

* In ''DeusEx'', the bad guys created Daedalus, a primitive AI to fight [[LaResistance "terrorist"]] organizations. Unfortunately for them, it [[LiteralGenie classified them as terrorists as well]] and became even more of a threat to their operations than said organizations, especially once it enlists the aid of [[PlayerCharacter JC Denton]]. To combat it, they create Icarus, a better, obedient AI which successfully destroys it, [[spoiler: except the new AI assimilated the old one, forming an even more powerful intelligence which ''also'' considers them a threat. One possible ending is the player merging with it to add the Human element to this entity to [[DeusEstMachina rule the world as a benevolent dictator]]. From what can be heard in-game about its limited efforts in Hong Kong, which are actually quite sensible and don't involve killing anyone, not all [[AIIsACrapshoot AI is a crapshoot]].]]

* In {{Thor}}, Heimdall is ordered by Odin to not activate the Bifrost for anyone. When Sif and the Warrior's Three need to help Thor out on Earth, he sticks his sword in the stone and leaves, essentially leaving the keys in the ignition for them.

* Both of [[Comicbook/XMen Sentinel]]'s endings in ''XMenChildrenOfTheAtom'' and ''MarvelVsCapcom3'' are this. The latter is even a carbon copy of what Master Mold did in the 90's animated cartoon, from which most of the ''MarvelVsCapcom'' series (plus, the aforementioned [=CotA=] and ''MarvelSuperHeroes'') takes inspiration.

Much like a RulesLawyer outside of an RPG, the character uses logic [[StrawVulcan (and we mean actual,]] [[YouFailLogicForever 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.

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* In {{Thor}}, Heimdall is ordered by Odin to not activate the Bifrost for anyone. When Sif and the Warrior's Three need to help Thor out on Earth, he sticks his sword in the stone and leaves, essentially leaving the keys in the ignition for them.

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** Note that Giskard follows it by A. mind-controlling a psychopath B. Inducing the Earth to be increasingly radioactive, so that in a few thousand years it will be rubble possibly killing off humanity in order to get them to colonize again.
*** [[FanFic Also notable that the Robots form a shadow empire guiding, controlling, and limiting human technology while getting them to expand. This goes on for something like 40,000 years until the robots are unable to repair themselves. ''The Robots's best interests of humanity are notable for not including Alien life. Countless species are believed to be exterminated by the robots to prevent their threat to humanity.'']]

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* A recent Old Skool webcomic (a side comic of {{Ubersoft}}) [[http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/osw/2009/09/logic-failures-fun-and-profit argued]] that this was the 5th law of Robotics (5th as in total number, not order) and listed ways each law can be used to cause the robot to kill humans.

--> '''Wanda:''' I'm allowed. I'm convinced it will lead to your destruction.

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