1613: The Three Laws of Robotics - Revision history

82.132.237.9: /* Explanation */ From the "homini est illegitimo" school of thought. Just depends upon who is the biggest (and first!) bastard, and words the command better(/most inadvertently) to forgo any possibility of later being 'unordered' again in timely manner.

2025-09-04T14:41:52Z

‎Explanation: From the "homini est illegitimo" school of thought. Just depends upon who is the biggest (and first!) bastard, and words the command better(/most inadvertently) to forgo any possibility of later being 'unordered' again in timely manner.

ISaveXKCDpapers: combined into one paragraph

2025-09-04T00:25:43Z

combined into one paragraph

ISaveXKCDpapers: expanded scenario #4 explanation

2025-09-04T00:24:28Z

expanded scenario #4 explanation

162.158.178.34 at 05:44, 26 January 2025

2025-01-26T05:44:38Z

Firestar233: Undo revision 361692 by 172.68.211.103 (talk)

2025-01-11T08:18:23Z

Undo revision 361692 by 172.68.211.103 (talk)

172.68.211.103 at 03:07, 11 January 2025

2025-01-11T03:07:10Z

Cheesesentience: /* Explanation */

2025-01-07T15:43:58Z

‎Explanation

Jkshapiro: /* Explanation */ minor typo

2024-06-20T00:50:11Z

‎Explanation: minor typo

Maplestrip: /* Explanation */ If protecting oneself from _any_ harm is always more important than not harming humans, then this _could_ turn into a hellscape of practically indiscriminate murder. It's how I would write this story, at least.

2024-02-23T11:18:20Z

‎Explanation: If protecting oneself from _any_ harm is always more important than not harming humans, then this _could_ turn into a hellscape of practically indiscriminate murder. It's how I would write this story, at least.

172.70.162.242: /* Explanation */ Ok, so repeated near the bottom, but relevent in both instances.

2023-07-10T08:44:26Z

‎Explanation: Ok, so repeated near the bottom, but relevent in both instances.

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 ;Ordering #2 - <font color="orange">Frustrating World</font>: Human safety is still top priority, so there is no danger to humans; however, the priority of self-preservation is now placed above obedience, which means that the robots value their existence over their job and so many would refuse to do their tasks. The silliness of this is portrayed in the accompanying image, where the robot (a {{w|Mars rover}} looking very similar to {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}} both in shape and size - see [[1091: Curiosity]]) laughs at the idea of doing what it was clearly built to do (explore {{w|Mars}}) because of the risk. In addition to the general risk (e.g. of unexpected damage), it is actually normal for rovers to cease operating ("die") at the end of their mission, though they may survive longer than expected (see [[1504: Opportunity]] and [[695: Spirit]]).
 ;Ordering #3 - <font color="red">Killbot Hellscape</font>: This puts obeying orders above not harming humans, which means anyone could send a robot on a killing spree. Given human nature, it will probably only be a matter of time before this happens. Even worse, if the robot prioritizes obeying orders above human safety, it may try to kill any human who would prevent it from fulfilling those orders, even the person who originally gave them. Given the superior abilities of robots, the most effective way to stop them would be to counter them with other robots, which would quickly escalate to a "Killbot Hellscape" scenario where robots kill indiscriminately without any thought for human life or self-preservation.
-;Ordering #4 - <font color="red">Killbot Hellscape</font>: This is much the same as #3, except even worse as robots would also be able to kill humans in order to protect themselves. This means that even robots not engaged in combat might still murder humans if their existence is threatened. It would be a very dangerous world for humans to live in. To be fair, a robot attacking a human purely in self-defense could be ordered to stop, which it would be forced to obey. However, there are situations where such an order could not be given: the robot uses a sneak attack, the human cannot speak coherent sentences, etc.
+;Ordering #4 - <font color="red">Killbot Hellscape</font>: This is much the same as #3, except even worse as robots would also be able to kill humans in order to protect themselves. This means that even robots not engaged in combat might still murder humans if their existence is threatened. It would be a very dangerous world for humans to live in. To be fair, a robot attacking a human purely in self-defense could be ordered to stop, which it would be forced to obey. However, there are situations where such an order could not be given: the robot uses a sneak attack, the human cannot speak coherent sentences, etc. And still retains the possibility of other humans having actually ordered it to kill, in the first place, with no clearly overriding way of ever countermanding this, as with each example where human life is subordinate to the obeying of (other) humans.
 ;Ordering #5 - <font color="orange">Terrifying Standoff</font>:This ordering would result in an unpleasant world, though not necessarily a full Hellscape. Here the robots would not only disobey to protect themselves, but also kill if necessary. The absurdity of this one is further demonstrated with the very un-human robot happily doing repetitive mundane tasks but then threatening the life of its user, [[Cueball]], if he as much as considers unplugging it. Interestingly, this makes robots the most similar to humans out of all of the other scenarios.
 ;Ordering #6 - <font color="red">Killbot Hellscape</font>: The last ordering puts self-protection first, which allows robots to go on killing sprees as long as doing so wouldn't cause them to come to harm. While not as bad as the Hellscapes in #3 and #4, this is still not good news for humans, as a robot can easily kill a human without risk to itself. A human also cannot use a robot to defend it from another robot, as robots can refuse combats that involve risk to themselves - this means a robot would happily stand by and allow its human master to be killed. According to Randall, this still eventually results in the Killbot Hellscape scenario.

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 ;Ordering #2 - <font color="orange">Frustrating World</font>: Human safety is still top priority, so there is no danger to humans; however, the priority of self-preservation is now placed above obedience, which means that the robots value their existence over their job and so many would refuse to do their tasks. The silliness of this is portrayed in the accompanying image, where the robot (a {{w|Mars rover}} looking very similar to {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}} both in shape and size - see [[1091: Curiosity]]) laughs at the idea of doing what it was clearly built to do (explore {{w|Mars}}) because of the risk. In addition to the general risk (e.g. of unexpected damage), it is actually normal for rovers to cease operating ("die") at the end of their mission, though they may survive longer than expected (see [[1504: Opportunity]] and [[695: Spirit]]).
 ;Ordering #3 - <font color="red">Killbot Hellscape</font>: This puts obeying orders above not harming humans, which means anyone could send a robot on a killing spree. Given human nature, it will probably only be a matter of time before this happens. Even worse, if the robot prioritizes obeying orders above human safety, it may try to kill any human who would prevent it from fulfilling those orders, even the person who originally gave them. Given the superior abilities of robots, the most effective way to stop them would be to counter them with other robots, which would quickly escalate to a "Killbot Hellscape" scenario where robots kill indiscriminately without any thought for human life or self-preservation.
-;Ordering #4 - <font color="red">Killbot Hellscape</font>: This is much the same as #3, except even worse as robots would also be able to kill humans in order to protect themselves. This means that even robots not engaged in combat might still murder humans if their existence is threatened. It would be a very dangerous world for humans to live in.
+;Ordering #4 - <font color="red">Killbot Hellscape</font>: This is much the same as #3, except even worse as robots would also be able to kill humans in order to protect themselves. This means that even robots not engaged in combat might still murder humans if their existence is threatened. It would be a very dangerous world for humans to live in. To be fair, a robot attacking a human purely in self-defense could be ordered to stop, which it would be forced to obey. However, there are situations where such an order could not be given: the robot uses a sneak attack, the human cannot speak coherent sentences, etc.
 ;Ordering #5 - <font color="orange">Terrifying Standoff</font>:This ordering would result in an unpleasant world, though not necessarily a full Hellscape. Here the robots would not only disobey to protect themselves, but also kill if necessary. The absurdity of this one is further demonstrated with the very un-human robot happily doing repetitive mundane tasks but then threatening the life of its user, [[Cueball]], if he as much as considers unplugging it. Interestingly, this makes robots the most similar to humans out of all of the other scenarios.
 ;Ordering #6 - <font color="red">Killbot Hellscape</font>: The last ordering puts self-protection first, which allows robots to go on killing sprees as long as doing so wouldn't cause them to come to harm. While not as bad as the Hellscapes in #3 and #4, this is still not good news for humans, as a robot can easily kill a human without risk to itself. A human also cannot use a robot to defend it from another robot, as robots can refuse combats that involve risk to themselves - this means a robot would happily stand by and allow its human master to be killed. According to Randall, this still eventually results in the Killbot Hellscape scenario.

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 ;Ordering #3 - <font color="red">Killbot Hellscape</font>: This puts obeying orders above not harming humans, which means anyone could send a robot on a killing spree. Given human nature, it will probably only be a matter of time before this happens. Even worse, if the robot prioritizes obeying orders above human safety, it may try to kill any human who would prevent it from fulfilling those orders, even the person who originally gave them. Given the superior abilities of robots, the most effective way to stop them would be to counter them with other robots, which would quickly escalate to a "Killbot Hellscape" scenario where robots kill indiscriminately without any thought for human life or self-preservation.
 ;Ordering #4 - <font color="red">Killbot Hellscape</font>: This is much the same as #3, except even worse as robots would also be able to kill humans in order to protect themselves. This means that even robots not engaged in combat might still murder humans if their existence is threatened. It would be a very dangerous world for humans to live in.
 ;Ordering #5 - <font color="orange">Terrifying Standoff</font>:This ordering would result in an unpleasant world, though not necessarily a full Hellscape. Here the robots would not only disobey to protect themselves, but also kill if necessary. The absurdity of this one is further demonstrated with the very un-human robot happily doing repetitive mundane tasks but then threatening the life of its user, [[Cueball]], if he as much as considers unplugging it. Interestingly, this makes robots the most similar to humans out of all of the other scenarios.
 ;Ordering #6 - <font color="red">Killbot Hellscape</font>: The last ordering puts self-protection first, which allows robots to go on killing sprees as long as doing so wouldn't cause them to come to harm. While not as bad as the Hellscapes in #3 and #4, this is still not good news for humans, as a robot can easily kill a human without risk to itself. A human also cannot use a robot to defend it from another robot, as robots can refuse combats that involve risk to themselves - this means a robot would happily stand by and allow its human master to be killed. According to Randall, this still eventually results in the Killbot Hellscape scenario.

@@ Line 83: / Line 83: @@
 :2. (3) Protect yourself
 :3. (1) Don't harm humans:
-:[Exactly the same picture as in row 3.]
+:[Two robots are fighting. The one to the left has six wheels, a tall neck on top of the body, with a head with what could be a camera facing right. It has something pointing forward on the body, which could be a weapon. The robot to the right, seems to be further away into the picture. (it is smaller with less detail). It is human shapes, but made op of square structures. It has two legs and two arms, a torso and a head. It clearly shoots something out of it’s right “hand”. This shot seems to create an explosion a third of the way towards the left robot. There are two mushroom clouds from explosions behind both robots (left and right). Between them there are one more explosion up in the air close to the left robot, and what looks like a fire on the ground right between them. Furthermore there are two missiles in the air, one above the head of each robot. Lines indicate their trajectory. There is not text.]
 :<font color="red">'''Killbot hellscape'''</font>
@@ Line 98: / Line 98: @@
 :2. (2) Obey Orders
 :3. (1) Don't harm humans:
-:[Exactly the same picture as in row 3 and 4.]
+:[Two robots are fighting. The one to the left has six wheels, a tall neck on top of the body, with a head with what could be a camera facing right. It has something pointing forward on the body, which could be a weapon. The robot to the right, seems to be further away into the picture. (it is smaller with less detail). It is human shapes, but made op of square structures. It has two legs and two arms, a torso and a head. It clearly shoots something out of it’s right “hand”. This shot seems to create an explosion a third of the way towards the left robot. There are two mushroom clouds from explosions behind both robots (left and right). Between them there are one more explosion up in the air close to the left robot, and what looks like a fire on the ground right between them. Furthermore there are two missiles in the air, one above the head of each robot. Lines indicate their trajectory. There is not text.]
 :<font color="red">'''Killbot hellscape'''</font>

@@ Line 84: / Line 84: @@
 :3. (1) Don't harm humans:
 :[Exactly the same picture as in row 3.]
-:<font color="red">'''Robot landscape'''</font>
+:<font color="red">'''Killbot hellscape'''</font>
 :[Fifth row:]
@@ Line 99: / Line 99: @@
 :3. (1) Don't harm humans:
 :[Exactly the same picture as in row 3 and 4.]
-:<font color="red">'''Kids hello'''</font>
+:<font color="red">'''Killbot hellscape'''</font>
 {{comic discussion}}

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 In order to make his joke, [[Randall]] shortens the laws into three imperatives:
 #Don't harm humans
-#Obey Orders
+#Obey orders
 #Protect yourself

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 The comic begins with introducing the original set, which we already know will give rise to a balanced world, so this is designated as green.:
-;Ordering #1 - <font color="green">Balanced World</font>: The safety of humans is placed as the top priority, superseding even a robot's preprogrammed obedience; a robot may disregard any orders they are given if that would result in harm to humans, but otherwise must obey all instructions. The "inaction" clause also ensures that a robot will save humans in danger. Their own self-preservation is placed at the lowest priority, which means they will sacrifice themselves if necessary to save a human life, and must obey orders even if they know those orders will result in their own destruction. This results in a balanced, if not perfect, world. Asimov's robot stories explore in detail the ramifications of this scenario.
+;Ordering #1 - <font color="green">Balanced World</font>: The safety of humans is placed as the top priority, superseding even a robot's preprogrammed obedience; a robot may disregard any orders they are given if that would result in harm to humans, but otherwise must obey all instructions. The "inaction" clause ensures that a robot will actively save humans in danger, and also not {{w|Little Lost Robot|place humans in hypothetical danger}} and then leave them to that fate. Their own self-preservation is placed at the lowest priority, which means they will sacrifice themselves if necessary to save a human life, and must obey orders even if they know those orders will result in their own destruction. This results in a balanced, if not perfect, world. Asimov's robot stories explore in detail the ramifications of this scenario.
 Below this first known option, the five alternative orderings of the three rules are illustrated. Two of the possibilities are designated yellow (pretty bad or just annoying) and three of them are designated red ("Hellscape").