What would you do if you were Astro boy?

[AprilSeven]

I believe Astro is essentially at peace with his "life form" and might even perceive himself to be pretty much the same as a human in terms of "feelings" - but I think he's puzzled and troubled by humans who aren't - by nature - honest, kind-hearted and self-less in nature.

So, if "I" were Astro, I'd spend a lot of time trying to reach cruel, mean-spirited, and otherwise "evil/troubled" humans to help them see how they are robbing themselves of the best part of life (giving/sharing/loving) and hopefully change their hearts.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

After reading some posts on line about certain 'big energy' companies and how they are poluting this planet (whole comunities having their water tainted by fracking, waste from coal mining, and chemical spills, etc) I would think Astro would be very torn as to what to do. Under the 'zeroth law' of robotics, he has to protect mankind, even if at the cost of a few individual humans. Atlas wouldn't have an issue here, he'd USE the zeroth law and get rid of the few bad apples destroying the world.

I that if I were in Astro's shoes I hope that I'd find a way to handle the situation without blowing all my circuits trying to honor the zeroth law while also not ignoring the first. That's where the Omega factor works in Atlas's favor.....

Hint hint. But I think a possible story on this idea would be TOO political for here.

[Windswept Cloak]

Wow, you guys have some wonder full ideas! Mine was just a silly joke......

Here's my actual answer: (Sorry if it's lousy, I'm a little too lazy to type stuff up tonight) Everything good that anyone else has said above. Involving peacemaking and such

[jeffbert]

But, Atlas is not bound by any such laws of robotics, not Tezuka's & certainly not Asimov's, Tetsuwan Penguin.

AprilSeven: I hate to be cynical, but some people are just plain bad. I have studied belief as a way of thinking, & you just waste your time arguing with some, perhaps, most people, when you attempt to change their beliefs. irate:

As far as that goes, the 2003 version made Atom seem to be very different from earlier versions in that he simply would not accept to fact that some people were evil. He tried to change them, & occasionally [as I recall] succeeded. Granted, 80s Atom constantly strove to change Atlas' attitudes toward humanity, & eventually succeeded, but so much more in the '03 version.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

But, Atlas is not bound by any such laws of robotics, not Tezuka's & certainly not Asimov's, Tetsuwan Penguin.

That will depend on WHICH version of Atlas you are thinking of there were actually four or five of them. The 1963 anime and the manga had Atlas in them but he was totally different (Atlas was in the 1963 story "Don Tay's Infernal" but wasn't called by that name, at least in the ELV. I have NO idea of what went on the Japanese version. Maybe someone has the DVD and might pick up the name used.) There were TWO versions of Atlas in the 1980 series, and yet another in the 2003 version. My favorite was in the 2003 story where Atlas was close to being a Doppleganger for Astro.

I also have my own head cannon for Atlas that builds on him in the 2003 series with some ideas from Dannavy85's stories, plus a real shocker that I set forth in two of my stories on FF.net (last chapter of 'prequel' and 'two sides of the same coin').

[jeffbert]

which of those 5 versions do you think was subject to the ROBOT LAW?

[dannavy85]

It would be time to get on a train in Japan and try to get myself totally lost in adventures and walkies.