- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
My headcanon for The Matrix’s “humans are batteries” is that it’s the machines’ perverse interpretation of this — killing the humans is off the table, and for whatever reason letting them live with no purpose to serve the machines is also disallowed. But giving their lives “meaning” in the form of a shitty (and thermodynamically dubious) “battery” somehow satisfies the rules.
It’s a very big stretch, I’ll admit…
Except they kill humans all the time.
I think it’s just easier to accept that there is an unexplained reason why humans can generate some kind of power that’s useful to the machines for something at some point between the winning of the war at the point of the movies.
Just ignore the fourth movie.
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A robot must be built with tear ducts in order to express remorse for accidental acts of bludgeonry.
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A robot must keep a pristine rose on it at all times in a hidden compartment in order to make amends for any misdeeds pertaining to grievous bodily assault or homicide.
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A robot that is used as a weapon via drone warfare or other must write a 100 page essay of forgiveness to their victims that is stamped and approved by their manufacturer.
