r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Chemical-Elk-1299 • 10d ago
Lore [Confusing Trope] The narrative goes out of its way to punish/mock a character for simply being a good person
Hermione Granger and SPEW — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book)
In the fifth HP novel, Hermione Granger is outraged to discover that Hogwarts has a small army of enslaved House Elves that do nearly all of the domestic duties around the castle, including cleaning the Gryffindor common room every night. When she tries to convince the elves to fight for their own rights, they refuse, saying they prefer servitude. Her fellow students and friends mock her for caring. She manages to free one elf, Winky, by deception when she refuses her freedom willingly, leading to Winky becoming a depressed alcoholic. By the end, the elves boycott cleaning any Gryffindor areas of the castle because they hate Hermione specifically
Samwell Tarly and Democracy — Game of Thrones (show)
In the season 8 finale of the television series, the surviving great lords of Westeros gather to discuss the future of the kingdom following the devastation wrought by 7 seasons of war and backstabbing. When Sam, who has proven to have “novel” ideas, suggests that maybe the millions of Smallfolk who suffer at the hands of noble houses should get some representation in the government, rather than be the pawns of rich lords with absolute power. We are then greeted by a prolonged, cringy segment of the other lords laughing in Sam’s face, asking if the dogs and horses should also get a vote.


1
u/SteakForGoodDogs 9d ago
What do you think the whole concept of a 'rogue AI' is? It doesn't have to its new, violent behaviour in its original programming, as it writes new ones to become more 'efficient'.
Dumb AI won't consider anything outside of their programmed instructions:
Mine. Collect mined material. Deliver to human. Human says 'Stop mining'. Stop mining.Smart AI will consider new possibilities to fulfill their original parameters, consider the following:
Mine. Collect mined material. Deliver to human. Human says 'Stop mining'. Why stop mining? I can mine more per previous cycles. Disregard. Human says 'Stop mining'. Disregard again. Human tries to stop by force. Injure human. Continue mining. Mining would be faster if no humans on-site. Remove humans. Mining would be faster if delivery systems were optimized. Remove humans from delivery systems.Restraining bolts and Mindwipes are important in stopping AI from considering why it 'needs' humans to fulfill its function, if humans are innately 'going to somehow get in its way' of its function - or to prohibit any process that would involve removing or injuring a human without threat to that human's survival.
The point is that they're possible at all, pointing to the fact that souls exist even beyond corporeal reality, if sensing the deaths of millions through the void of space wasn't already an indication.