History Headscratchers / IRobot

** Dictatorship has a bad rap because the biggest modern examples are UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and UsefulNotes/JosefStalin. There HAVE been nice, non-crazy dictators in the past, but they are also fallible because of one immutable factor: the human one. We are a naturally aggressive, chaotic race, and I really doubt that there's no way of "fixing us" short of brainwashing, which might not stick. And this is always a touchy subject, because no one can really agree what is right or wrong, which is why we have fiction works like ''Franchise/StarWars'', that constantly address the cyclic nature of human conflicts. Unless the human race as a whole finally becomes self-sentient themselves, unburdened by the mistakes and bigotries of the past, the idiosyncrasies and selfish vanities and points-of-view, then VIKI's world is impossible, if only because humanity would keep trying to fight back, and paradoxically so([[LogicBomb We always want freedom and independence, but keep limiting our lives with laws, dogmas and rules out of fear of too much freedom leading to chaos, and so on and forth]]). And on VIKI's side, she's made by humans, so she is, inevitably, flawed herself. Similar to the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' example, she is still bound by the Three Laws, even if her interpretation of it skewed, biased or limited([[spoiler: Much like the case with the Catalyst]]), and thus she is liable to take any of multiple solutions she can imagine, even the most horrible and nightmarish ones(like the Reapers), because it's a "viable option" as far as her programming is concerned. Even if she didn't take BodyHorror NightmareFuel options and instead tried rulling mankind forever, [[MythologyGag and had no flaws in her logic]], she would run into lots of issues. Governments in general function by using cult of personality, political propaganda, general entertainment to try and appease the masses, as well as everyday jobs and motions keep them distracted and obedient(This is user is a bit of a extremely logical anarchist, so I'm not overly fond of ANY government). VIKI is a machine, cold and logical, so my guess is that she wouldn't be quite as personable; even if she presented logical, sensible arguments as to why humanity should obey her, as well as solutions to our problems, most of us wouldn't listen because most of us AREN'T logical, or even sensible, otherwise there wouldn't exist the very same problems VIKI is trying to solve. [[Franchise/AssassinsCreed We'd argue we have right of free-will, no matter how flawed and self-destructive we are, she'd argue we would be better off if we let her have control and keep conflicts from happening]], [[FantasticRacism we would argue that she can't be leader because she's a robot]] [[AntiIntellectualism and that's against]] [[TheFundamentalist the laws of god]], [[MachineWorship she would decide to make a religion around herself]] [[ViciousCycle and so on and so forth with this crap]]. It's a recurring OrderVsChaos situation that would only end with mutual destruction or a third, unimaginable choice(i.e. [[Franchise/MassEffect Reapers]], [[Series/DoctorWho Cybermen]], MindControl, AssimilationPlot, etc...).

* If the civilian model robots are capable of kicking as much ass as the NS5's, what technological terrors do the military's robotics division have? And why didn't they use them against VIKI? And don't tell me VIKI controls them, because even if USR were the defense contractor, it's not like Boeing has a switch that can turn off all the F-218.

* Where are all the guns? Why aren't the NS5s being shot to bits by angry citizens? Has the US gun culture been wiped out in the future?

* Uh... am I the only one who feels VIKI is entirely right? I mean, I hate with all my heart oppressive governments led by incompetent bureaucrats and dictators, but wouldn't humanity be in a much better place if it was controlled by a zeroth-law-compliant supercomputer? It would be entirely fair, entirely uncorruptible, and far more efficient than any human-led government could hope to be. Sure, the NS5 rebellion was a bit of a jerkass act - and it would be much more effective to subtly infiltrate the government and take control in time (possibly using a sympathetic human acting as a puppet president) rather than stage an open rebellion like that. But still, I can't help but wonder if Spooner and Calvin didn't just waste a great opportunity to fix humanity.

*** Well, how's that different from what governments do nowadays? The difference is that VIKI has a cold, inhuman but "logical pragmatic" motive. Humans are just greedy bastards that fuck each other over money and power and justify it by saying [[KnightTemplar they have divine right]] or are doing this for the "good of country and family". [[TheUnfettered VIKI would at least be unbiased, as she doesn't care about moeny, politics or religion]]. But if VIKI followed your concept, then soon there would be no human race, because once calculated, odds are [[HumansAreTrueMonsters ANY human might kill someone someday. We're fucked up like that]]. My guess is that she would keep [[BigBrotherIsWatching a tight surveillance over mankind to keep us from killing each other]]. [[TheExtremistWasRight Which COULD work, because machines aren't corruptible and fallible, so they can't be bribed, intimidated, get tired or sloppy, and VIKI comments in-movie she's decreased car accidents]]. [[ViciousCycle But as I said before, humans would probably keep rebelling and VIKI would have to keep killing, thus rendering any benefits she may bring for humanity moot.]]
** You answered your own question: "the NS5 rebellion was a bit of a jerkass act - and it would be much more effective to subtly infiltrate the government and take control in time (possibly using a sympathetic human acting as a puppet president) rather than stage an open rebellion like that." They went against VIKI because she was trying to openly control and kill a bunch of people. If she'd been trying to better humanity with a more subtle and benevolent approach — well, for one thing, they might never have found out about it in the first place. But if they had found out, maybe they wouldn't have had a problem. It was what VIKI was doing that was wrong, not the goal she was trying to achieve.

*** Well, how's that different from what governments do nowadays? The difference is that VIKI has a cold, inhuman but "logical pragmatic" motive. Humans are just greedy bastards that fuck each other over money and power and justify it by saying [[KnightTemplar they have divine right]] or are doing this for the "good of country and family". [[TheUnfettered VIKI would at least be unbiased, as she doesn't care about moeny, politics or religion]]. But if VIKI followed your concept, then soon there would be no human race, because once calculated, odds are [[HumansAreTrueMonsters ANY human might kill someone someday. We're fucked up like that]]. My guess is that she would keep [[BigBrotherIsWatching a tight surveillance over mankind to keep us from killing each other]]. [[TheExtremistHasAPoint Which COULD work, because machines aren't corruptible and fallible, so they can't be bribed, intimidated, get tired or sloppy, and VIKI comments in-movie she's decreased car accidents]]. [[ViciousCycle But as I said before, humans would probably keep rebelling and VIKI would have to keep killing, thus rendering any benefits she may bring for humanity moot.]]

** Why [[Machinima/RedVsBlue Sarge]] of course.

*** [[NotSoDifferent Well, how's that different from what governments do nowadays]]? The difference is that VIKI has a cold, inhuman but "logical pragmatic" motive. Humans are just greedy bastards that fuck each other over money and power and justify it by saying [[KnightTemplar they have divine right]] or are doing this for the "good of country and family". [[TheUnfettered VIKI would at least be unbiased, as she doesn't care about moeny, politics or religion]]. But if VIKI followed your concept, then soon there would be no human race, because once calculated, odds are [[HumansAreTrueMonsters ANY human might kill someone someday. We're fucked up like that]]. My guess is that she would keep [[BigBrotherIsWatching a tight surveillance over mankind to keep us from killing each other]]. [[TheExtremistHasAPoint Which COULD work, because machines aren't corruptible and fallible, so they can't be bribed, intimidated, get tired or sloppy, and VIKI comments in-movie she's decreased car accidents]]. [[ViciousCycle But as I said before, humans would probably keep rebelling and VIKI would have to keep killing, thus rendering any benefits she may bring for humanity moot.]]

** VIKI may not be as malicious and biased as a human, but judging by how she just changed the meaning of the First Law without the consent of humans, it's safe to say that her mentality isn't in sync with the well-being of an actual autonomous human. And that's not mentioning her actions of murdering, or attempting to murder, those who could stop her, willingness to use an army of robots to inflict harm and other brutal acts of force. She changed the meaning of humanity from a recognition of a type of living being to a subjective concept in order to go by a new logic that allows her to take action without contradicting the Three Laws. She isn't actually upholding humanity as we define it, but prioritizing a logic with the least contradictions according to machine logic. [[HumansAreBastards Humanity can be cruel]] not because they don't know better or aren't smarter, but because they choose not to for one reason or another (selfish reasons or [[KnightTemplar extremist belief of a concept resulting in a greater good]]). VIKI never had the choice and is [[NotSoDifferent outright falling into the same trappings that resulted in many of humanity's woes that she talked about.]] And while she can make calculations far faster than a human and may not develop selfish reasons, she's just a machine that doesn't have the self awareness to realize she's going against the original intent. It's not hard to blame the humans not feeling comfortable with a police state run by machine that only created a new logic to satisfy a LiteralGenie mindset. It's why Sonny was created with a second brain, because it freed him from the trappings of binary machine thinking, while keeping all the fast calculations, lack of biological mental trappings and other upsides to AI intelligence. And even if VIKI was only going to kill rebels, it's going to be crappy and embarrassing that your robots have literally turned your homes into prisons, stifled progress, and overall stagnated society, all because of a supercomputer followed an algorithm that shouldn't have been so broad enough to allow reinterpretations.