History Main / AesopTinum

* In ''Anime/StrainStrategicArmoredInfantry'', [[spoiler:the Strains are derived from research done on aliens that look exactly like [[{{Anvilicious}} little human girls]], and the research is supposed to continue ([[WhatHappenedToTheMouse though they don't really finish that plot thread]]) so they can achieve instantaneous communication and more with the further dissection and possible brain removal of said girls.]] Naturally, [[spoiler:Ralph]] [[DefectorFromDecadence didn't like this]], So he decided it would be best to [[spoiler:punish humanity for this]].

* Creator/NormanSpinrad's '60s sci-fi novel ''Literature/BugJackBarron'' has an Evil Rich White Man gaining immortality from [[spoiler:[[PoweredByAForsakenChild the glands of irradiated-to-death children]]]], with the one the audience knows about in the book being [[spoiler: African-American]]. Good book, {{anvilicious}} {{Aesop}}.

* Aer and Blastia in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia''. Aer is a substance that exists naturally but large quantities have harmful effects on the environment and living things. Blastia are {{Magitech}} that convert Aer into energy, and most human civilization is reliant on them. The heroes eventually discover that overuse of Blastia will cause disturbances in the Aer and summon an EldritchAbomination called The Adephagos that will destroy the world, and your party can only stop it by ending over-reliance on Blastia and replacing Aer with Mana, a much safer form of energy. All of this is a not-so-subtle metaphor for fossil fuels and global warming.

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** In ''Manga/DragonBall'' Goku's rideable cloud, the Nimbus, can only be ridden on by the pure of heart. Everyone else falls right through, including the perverted Master Roshi who gives Goku the cloud.
** The only known people who can Nimbus include Goku himself, Chichi, Gohan and Goten. In a (non-canon) crossover, [[Manga/OnePiece Monkey D Luffy]] could ride it too.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' had "Splicing", a new technology that allowed a human to mix their DNA with that of an [[PettingZooPeople animal]], giving them cool features. [[BlatantLies It's safe, we assure you.]] Naturally, it became an allegorical aesop for drug abuse and extreme body modification.

* Creator/DamonKnight's short story "Rule Golden" has an alien that spreads a special plague which induces tele-empathy. This means that prison guards become depressed from the sadness of their prisoners, anyone that strikes another person will feel the pain from their blow, and anyone that kills another person will drop dead on the spot(strangely, this even includes such acts from a distance, such as shooting someone, which just kills the shooter rather than everyone else within the same radius). The ostensible reason the alien does this is to make humans become peaceful before they invent interstellar travel, with a side benefit supposedly being the elimination of hierarchic governments (since "government is force"). Notably, the story explores the nasty side effects of every animal with a nervous system becoming a psychic ''bomb'' directly equivalent to how much brain mass they're carting around; every purely carnivorous animal goes extinct, herbivores start stripping regions bare, vermin such as rats and mice undergo a population explosion, and oh yeah -- famines ensue because it takes a few years for farms to switch over to high-protein crops like beans and slaughterhouses to adopt painless killing methods. The entire planet nearly dies before the process is complete and the rest of the aliens feel safe enough show up with shipments of food and painless pest control measures are put to use.

* In ''Anime/StrainStrategicArmoredInfantry'' [[spoiler:the Strains are derived from research done on aliens that look exactly like [[{{Anvilicious}} little human girls]] and the research is supposed to continue ([[WhatHappenedToTheMouse though they don't really finish that plot thread]]) so they can achieve instantaneous communication and more with the further dissection and possible brain removal of said girls.]] [[DefectorFromDecadence Naturally, the bad guy didn't like this.]] [[FreakOut So]] [[FaceHeelTurn he decided]] [[OmnicidalManiac it would be best]] [[KillEmAll to punish humanity for this.]]

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'' Goku's rideable cloud, the Nimbus, can only be ridden on by the pure of heart. Everyone else falls right through, including the perverted Master Roshi who gives Goku the cloud.

* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', both Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga and Sesshomaru's Tenseiga were crafted specifically for them by their father to be aesoptinum. Tetsusaiga, the sword of destruction, has the power to kill one hundred demons with one swing, but only if it's wielded by a half-demon for the purpose of protecting humans. Tenseiga, the sword of healing, has the power to revive the dead but cannot harm anyone (except "minions of the underworld" which are basically a type of grim reaper like creatures). The swords are also [[EmpathicWeapon empathic weapons]], and have been known to guide their respective owners from time to time.

* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShell: Innocence'', [[spoiler:the gynoids' sentience is due to their containing copies of the ghosts of abducted preteen girls. The ghost-copying procedure eventually kills the girls. Even more disturbingly, they were first brainwashed into near-robots so that the gynoids wouldn't be ''too'' human-like - and that they were intended to be [[{{Sexbot}} Sexbots]]. Despite all this, a surviving girl and her rescuer are actually chastised by the heroine, as she says that [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman the real victims were the robots]] -- the humans were tortured, yes, but they had lives prior to that; the robots were given sentience ''solely so they could suffer!''
-->"We are saddened by a bird's cry, but not a fish's blood; Blessed are those with voices. If those dolls had voices, I bet each and every one would scream "I don't want to be a human."]]

* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShell: Innocence'', [[spoiler:the gynoids' sentience is due to their containing copies of the ghosts of abducted preteen girls. The ghost-copying procedure eventually kills the girls. Even more disturbingly, they were first brainwashed into near-robots so that the gynoids wouldn't be ''too'' human-like - and that they were intended to be [[{{Sexbot}} Sexbots]]. Despite all this, a surviving girl and her rescuer are actually chastised by the heroine, as she says that [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman the real victims were the robots]].]]

* Used in the TV series ''Series/TheTomorrowPeople,'' where the main characters' telepathy makes them incapable of killing.

* Creator/DamonKnight's short story "Rule Golden" has an alien that spreads a special plague which induces tele-empathy. This means that prison guards become depressed from the sadness of their prisoners, anyone that strikes another person will feel the pain from their blow, and anyone that kills another person else will suddenly drop dead(strangely, this even includes such acts from a distance, such as shooting someone, which just kills the shooter rather than everyone else within the same radius). The ostensible reason the alien does this is to make humans become peaceful before they invent interstellar travel, with a side benefit supposedly being the elimination of hierarchic governments (since "government is force"). Notably, the story explores the nasty side effects of every animal with a nervous system becoming a psychic ''bomb'' directly equivalent to how much brain mass they're carting around; every purely carnivorous animal goes extinct, herbivores start stripping regions bare, vermin such as rats and mice undergo a population explosion, and oh yeah -- famines ensue because it takes a few years for farms to switch over to high-protein crops like beans and slaughterhouses to adopt painless killing methods. The entire planet nearly dies before the process is complete and the rest of the aliens feel safe enough show up with shipments of food and painless pest control measures are put to use.

* Creator/DamonKnight's short story "Rule Golden" has an alien that spreads a special plague which induces tele-empathy. This means that prison guards become depressed from the sadness of their prisoners, somebody that strikes someone else will feel the pain from their blow, and somebody that kills someone else will suddenly drop dead (strangely, this even includes such acts from a distance, such as shooting someone, which just kills the shooter rather than everyone else within the same radius). The ostensible reason the alien does this is to make humans become peaceful before they invent interstellar travel, with a side benefit supposedly being the elimination of hierarchic governments (since "government is force"). For no particular reason, the plague affects all warm-blooded animals, not just humans. This means that all mammals and birds are now effectively vegetarians (unless their prey are insufficiently cuddly-looking), causing the extinction of [[CarnivoreConfusion larger beasts of prey]] all over the world.

* In the ''[[WesternAnimation/ThreeTwoOnePenguins 3-2-1 Penguins!]]'' episode "Compassion Crashin'", there is a machine called the X-Five One Behavior Modifier which can change one's attitude with great ease. Fidgel planned to use it to make himself, Jason, Zidgel, Midgel, and Kevin compassionate so that they could listen to Michelle when she was feeling sad. However, thanks to Kevin breaking the modifier, Jason and the penguins became the opposite of compassionate.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ThreeTwoOnePenguins'' episode "Compassion Crashin'", there is a machine called the X-Five One Behavior Modifier which can change one's attitude with great ease. Fidgel planned to use it to make himself, Jason, Zidgel, Midgel, and Kevin compassionate so that they could listen to Michelle when she was feeling sad. However, thanks to Kevin breaking the modifier, Jason and the penguins became the opposite of compassionate.

* ''Videogame/CommandAndConquer'' gives us Tiberium. Without going into too many details, humanity becomes more or less dependent on it even though it's ''completely destroying Earth and all life upon it''. In short, it's the stuff of Al Gore's nightmares.

* On ''Series/DoctorWho'', if a new substance or technology is discovered, chances are it violates someone's civil rights in ways that will be revealed around mid-episode and require a debate on the ethics of placing the wants of the many over the needs of the few. The most common example is time travel (is it okay to change history?). Other examples have included "flesh" - a substance that can be used to create avatars that allow people to do dangerous tasks without risking their own lives (which, of course, turned out to be alive and capable of sentience); a diet pill that causes human fat to turn into larval aliens (it's the only way for the aliens to reproduce, but has the potential to kill the dieter); and a process that can turn old people into young people (it also makes their DNA unstable causing possible mutation and requiring the youthened person to drain the life from others).

** The organ banks in Known Space are a ''multi-tiered'' version of this; in the early 21st century of the timeline, technology was developed to indefinitely store human organs for transplant. This had three big effects; first, organ harvest became the only legal form of execution. As a result, people eventually voted for ''[[AllCrimesAreEqual every crime]]'' to merit the death penalty. As a result of ''that'', culling violence, deception and greed out of the human genome turned humanity into [[AntiIntellectualism stupid]] [[ActualPacifist wimps]] who [[ExtremeDoormat mindlessly obey the government]]. Anti-death penalty, [[DemocracyIsBad anti-mob rule]], and anti-[[TheEvilsOfFreeWill authoritarianism]] in one fell swoop.

* The central premise of Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin's short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" was a city whose [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans happiness depended]] upon the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild suffering of one innocent child]].

* One ''WesternAnimation/{{Ducktales}}'' episode features the titular "Pearl of Wisdom", which will grant whoever holds it at a certain point at sunrise temporary infinite wisdom. ''Every'' person who has ever stolen it and used it in this manner realizes the error of their ways during their "moment of wisdom," and voluntarily returns the pearl to the islanders from whom it was stolen. This is why the islanders are never bent out of shape whenever the pearl IS stolen -- they know it will eventually be brought back to them.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'' Goku's rideable cloud can only be ridden on by the pure of heart. Everyone else falls right through, including the perverted Master Roshi who gives Goku the cloud.

* One ''WesternAnimation/{{Ducktales}}'' episode features the titular "Pearl of Wisdom", which will grant whoever holds it at a certain point at sunrise temporary infinite wisdom. ''Every'' person who has ever stolen it and used it in this manner realizes the error of their ways during their "moment of wisdom," and voluntarily returns the pearl to the islanders from whom it was stolen. [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy (This is why the islanders are never bent out of shape whenever the pearl IS stolen -- they know it will eventually be brought back to them.)]]

* In ''FanFic/{{Fractured}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]] and its sequel ''[[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins Origins]]'', it's noted by the heroes that the "Cosmic Cleansing Sphere" triggered through [[spoiler:Lilith crashing a ship into a temple made of Eridium]] kills both [[EldritchAbomination Reapers]] and [[{{Mooks}} followers]] of the InsaneAdmiral Xytler by [[spoiler:turning their hearts into solid matter]].

* In the MarvelComics ''ComicBook/EarthX'', the Cosmic Consciousness grants omniscience, but due to a strange form of observer effect will slowly make those who have even a fraction of it kinder people.

* In ''FanFic/{{Fractured}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]] and its sequel ''[[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins Origins]]'', it's noted by the heroes that the "Cosmic Cleansing Sphere" triggered through [[spoiler:Lilith crashing a ship into a temple made of Eridium]] does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin by killing both [[EldritchAbomination Reapers]] and [[{{Mooks}} followers]] of the InsaneAdmiral Xytler. By turning their hearts into solid matter. [[DontExplainTheJoke Since they were heartless fascists]].

* In ''FanFic/{{Fractured}}'', a ''MassEffect''[=/=]''StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]] and its sequel ''[[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins Origins]]'', it's noted by the heroes that the "Cosmic Cleansing Sphere" triggered through [[spoiler:Lilith crashing a ship into a temple made of Eridium]] does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin by killing both [[EldritchAbomination Reapers]] and [[{{Mooks}} followers]] of the InsaneAdmiral Xytler. By turning their hearts into solid matter. [[DontExplainTheJoke Since they were heartless fascists]].