Oudeis Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 I wonder if a robot would be able to hurt him? or an animal? Animals feel fear; they are sometimes aware that some situations may cause their death and will try to avoid those situations. A robot would either be programmed to hurt him, and we saw from the Rube Goldberg way he died that what matters is the person who starts the chain of events, or it would have to have free will. I have personally never bought the idea that a robot can have free will but no emotions. If a robot can't want Steelheart to be harmed, it won't choose to do so. Want means desire, desire is an emotion. If it can feel, it can fear. However complicated, convoluted and logical the chain of reasoning you can build to explain why a robot would harm Steelheart, it will always boil down to the following: There is one scenario where Steelheart lives, and another where he dies. I prefer one over the other. Preference means liking, liking is an emotion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloom Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Animals definitely feel fear. This is the primary reason that certain types of dogs are chosen as attack dogs and others are found to be unsuitable. The current favorite in police/attack dog is the Malinois. This is because this particular breed of German Shepard will follow commands without hesitation. It is smaller than many other types of K-9, but it doesn't hesitate or assess a threat before attacking like most dogs will. A Doberman Pincher will often literally come to a complete stop and assess a human before deciding weather they will attack or not. House cats are so skittish that fraidy cat is used to describe people who balk at doing something they fear. Wild animals avoid people out of fear and only attack humans when they have been acclimatized to humans, are desperate, or are protecting their young. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rade Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 You know, if they just hired some assassin from Europe who was used to killing people with a sniper rifle and paid them money to shoot Steelheart, that might work. I mean, even if Steelheart has his Epic costume on whoever hired him could say "We would shoot him ourselves, but we don't have a sniper rifle expert. Go get that (names random type of Epic with no inviciblity so that the guy won't be scared.). Seems like that would work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedelpen Posted August 6, 2014 Report Share Posted August 6, 2014 Robots would totally work. Steelheart did not plant the explosives or put the trigger in his gun or even push the button on the trigger. He didn't engineer the entire sequence, many parts were made by people who feared him. But the explosion was not set off by anyone who feared Steelheart. The gunshot fired by a robot would not be set off by anyone who feared Steelheart if the robot worked via AI rather than remote control. I think that David was just flat out wrong. The intent does not have to be triggered with the intent to kill Steelheart--it can be an accident, like David's father. So, what's the difference between placing the detonator to explosives in a gun, and placing a landmine in the ground? Steelheart should be able to activate either one, he started it, he doesn't fear himself (David explicitly said he did fear Steelheart), and boom-he dies. Same with poison, steelheart eats the food. He didn't have to plant the explosives or know about the detonator, so he doesn't have to put the poison in or know that it's there. And how about a tripline with a grenade? However, the only source saying that lack of fear is steelheart's weakness is David. David is not infallible. I propose a more convoluted theory. Steelheart can only be harmed by an attack targeted at someone who has a plan to kill Steelheart that they think will work. David's father targeted Deathpoint, who clearly thought that he could kill Steelheart. Steelheart targeted David, who thought that he could kill Steelheart. The damage to steelheart was accidental in both cases, because he wasn't the target. In this theory, a landmine or a collapsing building can only harm Steelheart if it's intended for someone who thinks that they can kill Steelheart. No one thinks that they can kill Steelheart. It works. And it saves the trouble of robots, natural disasters, and steelheart accidentally harming himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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