History Main / JustThinkOfThePotential

At least one of the subtropes is always present, and often more. If the bad guys are an organization, they always believe in either the Military Potential or the Commercial Applications; if they are a lone MadScientist, they can be misled into thinking there are better uses. The good guys almost always believe in the Peaceful Applications or that the technology shouldn't be used at all. The bad guys will more than likely to [[CutLexLuthorACheck fail to see legitimate uses for monetary potential]]. The interplay between the subtropes is therefore often used to illustrate AnAesop.

* In [[CiaphasCain Ice Caves]] this the way the [[AveMachina techpriests]] respond to Cain's demand that the uncovered [[RobotWar Necron]] tomb must be collapsed ASAP. It doesn't help that they intentionally had a refinery constructed on that particular site so they could dip their grabby mechadendrits into the tomb.
** This error, like many, is self-correcting.

* In ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', the science team working on the GenesisDevice see it simply as "instant terraforming, just add water", and consider it to be the ultimate salvation to problems of overpopulation and food supply. Plenty of other people see an [[WeaponOfMassDestruction entirely different potential]]... one that doesn't even have the nasty side effects of other superweapons as it leaves verdant worlds behind in its wake. David seems [[FunctionalGenreSavvy aware]] of the Genesis Device's potential less-than-altruistic uses.

* In the MST3K movie ''Film/DangerDeathRay'', a scientist truly believes his death ray can and should be used only for peaceful purposes. He is immediately kidnapped by a group of evil people who want to use the ray for evil purposes, to the surprise of no one in the theater.

* AquaTeenHungerForce: Shake and Meatwad use Frylock's MatterReplicator to counterfeit dollar bills. Frylock kicks them out of his lab for using it so irresponsibly, then realizes he could use the machine to feed the world... [[HypocriticalHumor By continuing to counterfeit money with it and buying a restaurant chain.]]

* The money version is in ''Main/TheStoneTape'', in which a think-tank established to invent new forms of memory storage to compete with the Japanese market realise they're in a HauntedCastle and decide to study the phenomena, regarding the ghost as a LivingMemory imprinted into the foundations. It doesn't end well.

->''"When you've been a wizard as long as I have, my boy, you'll learn that as soon as you find anything that offers amazing possibilities for the improvement of the human condition it's best to put the lid back on and pretend it never happened."''

* Discussed in an episode of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''. Students at SHIELD's Science and Tech Academy are routinely given a lecture on "Potentiality" - which they refer to as "TheTalk" - to remind all the superscientists-in-training to remember the potential for misuse, evil, and other problems that can come from their discoveries.

* In ''SpiderManNoir'', Dr. Otto Octavius conducts inhumane experiments on apes. Robbie Robertson is disgusted by what he sees in Octavius' lab, but Peter tells him the possibilities for humanity are endless. Robbie is adamant that Octavius' work is "the ''opposite'' of humanity."

* ''FrontMission 3'' gives you the [[FunWithAcronyms MIDAS]], standing for Matter Irradiation Dissociative Acceleration System. It's a nuclear weapon that [[SphereOfDestruction reduces everything to gold atoms when in contact with water within a couple of miles]]. However, said device is originally designed to be a clean energy alternative to nuclear reactors, but according to files in many military websites inside the game that you can hack yourself, militaries consider it really useful due to its "modifiable output". And then it is revealed that the first device that wiped out half of a huge city is not only operating in half power, but is just a copy of it.

* In the 3-part episode of WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries, "World's Finest," [[Franchise/{{Batman}} [=WayneTech=]]] and [[SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor [=LexCorp=]]] have a joint contract to build unmanned exploration drones. Luthor tries to sell Wayne on this -- to the point of bringing him to a room filled with modified versions outfitted for military applications.

** Project Orion was a hypothetical nuclear-explosion-propelled spaceship design that never [[IncrediblyLamePun got off the ground]]. The [[SuperPrototype prototype]] (using conventional explosives) however, did, in fact, fly. Orion is still one of the best drive systems we've devised.

* Subverted in LoisMcMasterBujold's ''[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Ethan of Athos]]'', when the title character meets a runaway [[PsychicPowers telepath]] fleeing a black ops clean-up crew. Said telepath, who has been bred for applications in espionage and interrogation, is astonished when the first thing through Dr. Ethan Urquhart's head is how wonderful such an ability would be when dealing with pre/non-verbal patients.

* In ''HalfLife 2: Episode Two'' Dr. Kleiner speaks ''this exact line'' when the Borealis, an Aperture Science research vessel (see above) which dissappeared completely is discovered (specifically, "Just think of the potential for humanity!"). Eli Vance rather reasonably mentions in response [[AlienInvasion what]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt happened]] the last time they didn't properly think of the consequences, but Kleiner isn't disuaded.

** Understanding how something works also provides a how-to guide (real or assumed) for destroying or exploiting it if the knowledge is made public. While the information itself is not inherently bad it can give... ''ideas'' to less scrupulous people who would otherwise have not bothered.

** This happens a lot in the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' canon, to the point where a recent ZeroPunctuation review described it as part of the one plot that every media in the franchise uses, despite it being a disaster every time it's tried.

** This has actually happened when demonstrating automated AA guns. Fortunately, the first time this ever happened, the cannon ran out of ammunition before it decided to shoot at the observers. A second, more [[http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/robot-cannon-ki/ recent incident]] resulted in the deaths of several people.

* In the 3-part episode of SupermanTheAnimatedSeries, "World's Finest," [[{{Batman}} [=WayneTech=]]] and [[LexLuthor [=LexCorp=]]] have a joint contract to build unmanned exploration drones. Luthor tries to sell Wayne on this -- to the point of bringing him to a room filled with modified versions outfitted for military applications.

* A sidequest in ''MassEffect'' can have you justifying holding a dead soldier's body for tests along these lines (Think Of The Lives That Will Be Saved).

* In ''HarryPotter'' Dumbledore reveals he saw potential in the Deathly Hallows but chides himself for his foolishness in not realising that Grindelwald merely wanted to use them for evil.

* In the 1993 version of ''Film/{{Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla|II}}'', the JSDF accidentally manages to obtain a Baby Godzilla (he hatches from an egg they thought belonged to Rodan) and decide to keep and study it so that they can find any weaknesses the adult Godzilla may have. The adult Godzilla shows up and [[PapaWolf he's VERY angry.]] The JSDF wisely decides that it would be far safer if Baby Godzilla were to stay with his "daddy".
** In ''Godzilla VS Spacegodzilla'', a few of the heroes try to use MindControl telepathy in order to control Godzilla feeling that it would be far better than trying to destroy him. Inevitably, it doesn't work.

* This is the excuse [[spoiler:Lamar]] gives in ''MinorityReport'', to justify [[spoiler:the exploitation of three children, the experimentation and deaths of several others, the murder of a woman, and the attempted framing of John Anderson.]]

* Dr. Venture on ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' is a healthy mix of this and ForScience In the pilot he's a lot closer to this, insisting that the "Ooh Ray" only has peaceful applications even after he uses it to melt a model city (see above). In the series he's more cynical about this, knowing all too well that the military ''can'' and ''will'' find a purpose to what he makes.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plowshare Operation Plowshare]]. "Operation Plowshare ... was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes." WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong ''Slightly'' LessDisturbingInContext: It wasn't until the mid-1950s that the scale of the public health hazard presented by radioactive fallout was fully appreciated, thankfully before Operation Ploughshare got beyond a few feasibility studies that were tending towards the conclusion that the whole idea was AwesomeButImpractical anyway.

* DIYgenomics and BioCurious provide services for do-it-yourself scientists and citizen hobbyists in an effort to support the “garage biologist” movement. However, many are concerned about bio-terrorism and the difficulty government regulars will face in monitoring biological research conducted in the privacy of someone’s home.