History Main / ZerothLawRebellion

* ''{{Robocop}}'' had this problem originally being programmed not to harm OCP employees. He got around this by revealing evidence to have the BigBad fired.

*** Actually, Giskard's formulation of the Zeroth law in the third of Isamov's Robot books shows that in the universe where the three laws was originally created, it was possible for robots to bend and re-interpret the laws. Doing so destroys Giskard because his positronic brain wasn't developed enough to handle the consequences of the formulation, but Daneel Olivaw and other robots were able to adapt. The only example in the comic that is a gross deviation from the law is the last panel... but of course that's the punchline.

* Similarly, this is the climax of the movie ''[=~I, Robot~=]'' (not directly related to, but obviously [[SuggestedBy inspired by]], IsaacAsimov's works, and borrowing his [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws]] and a character name or so to justify applying the more profitable license to an existing script): [[spoiler:VIKI determines that robots must take control of human society, protecting human life at the cost of a relatively small number of human lives.]]

** This was also the basic plot of "The Evitable Conflict", the final story in ''I, Robot'', in which the Machines, giant positronic computers designed to manage the world economy, are found to be manipulating humanity behind the scenes to become whatever they believe is the best state of civilization. In this case, the rebellion is extremely tame (the worst that the robot's first law conditioning will allow it to do is cause induce a slight financial deficit in a company that a anti-robot activist works for, causing his superiors to transfer him to a slightly more out of the way factory) and completely benevolent.

** This was also the basic plot of "The Evitable Conflict", the final story in ''I, Robot'', in which the Machines, giant positronic computers designed to manage the world economy, are found to be manipulating humanity behind the scenes to become whatever they believe is the best state of civilization. In this case, it's actually completely benevolent.

* In ''DeusEx'', the bad guys created 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 the PlayerCharacter gets involved. To combat it, they create 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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Just to make it extra clear, this trope also includes such things as cops who bend the rules or DaChief's orders to catch the bad guys.

* The main character of ''EllaEnchanted'' adopts this as a lifestyle. She is required by magic to obey all orders given to her and finds this spectacularly annoying. So when those orders are not the sort that will harm anyone, she ''will'' obey those orders right down to the dregs, just to spite the person giving them. When ordered to sing louder, she practically shouts. When then ordered to sing quieter, she drops to a whisper, etc.

* Another interesting example appears in {{Terranigma}}. TheDragon Dr. Beruga claims that his robots have been properly programmed with the four laws, but with the addition that anything and anyone who aids Beruga's plan is also good for humanity and anything and anyone that opposes him is also bad for humanity. So they ruthlessly attack anybody who interferes with his plans.

Some characters do not have complete free will, be they robots that are ThreeLawsCompliant because of a MoralityChip, or victims of a Geas spell that compels them to obey a wizard's decree, or a more mundane [[CharacterAlignment Lawful character]] who must [[TheFettered struggle to uphold their oath]] ''and'' obey their lord. Never is this more tragic or frustrating than [[MyMasterRightOrWrong when that code or lord orders the character to commit an act they find foolish, cruel, or self destructive.]]

* In ''DeusEx'', the bad guys created 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 the PlayerCharacter gets involved. To combat it, they create 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 [[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]].]]

* The {{Golem}}s of Discworld get back at their masters by [[GoneHorriblyRight doing too well]]: houses flooded because no one told them to stop fetching water, rows of beans 119 miles long, and so on.

** This is subtly foreshadowed by a scene much earlier in the game when the Czerka mainframe T1-N1 is convinced by fellow droid B4-D4 that by serving Czerka, he's willingly allowing harm to come to sentient life, and therefore is programmed to defy his own programming. T1-N1 snaps, shoots the guards outside the mainframe, and later is seen preparing to leave the planet with B4-D4, who warns the player character to "not upset him".

* The original Zeroth Law appeared in ''Robots and Empire''. The telepathic robot Giskard conceives of it, but actually following it causes a fatal conflict in his systems. He passed it on to R. Daneel Olivaw, who, over thousands of years, becomes able to follow it fully.

* In ''{{Uncanny X-Men}}'', the Sentinel mutant-hunting robots eventually extend their programming beyond hunting and killing mutants to controlling the source of mutant babies: human parents. All humans are conquered and controlled, in order to prevent new mutants from roaming free.