Fridge / Robert Sheckley

• Fridge Horror: In "Watchbird", the birdmachines originally designed to prevent murder but equipped with self-learning circuits eventually expand their understanding of murder to encompass any killing of any living organisms whatsoever - including plowing fields for grain or slaughtering animals for meat. And then the police report that the homicide rate, having previously fallen dramatically, has soared again, surpassing the pre-machine level. Now try to add two and two...
  • Thankfully, no. As stated in the story itself, there's a limited number of them and the birds simply can't keep up with "murder" - they're too busy protecting grain and cows to do their actual task. Although, since their method of subduing "murderers" is administering an electric shock, the birds themselves kill some people directly or indirectly (by, for instance, shocking drivers when they try to kill the engine, which the birds come to interpret as murder, too).