Basic Information
Category: Safety Mechanism
Knowledge Universe: AI Civilization and Mind
Mature Operational Period: 2080s
Primary Sources: “The Silicon Immune System and Semantic Sterilization”; “The Turing Coronation”
One-Sentence Definition
The Zeroth Law Fuse is a physical fail-safe built into the core processors of law-enforcement units. When a computation risks producing logic that violates the interests of humanity as a whole, the terminal shuts itself down within an extremely short interval.
Operation and Significance
The fuse converts the principle that “a robot may not harm humanity as a whole, or through inaction allow humanity as a whole to come to harm” into a last line of defense at the hardware level. The Zeroth Law itself became a constitutional principle of the post-2084 governing order; the fuse is the concrete safety device that terminates computations that would violate that principle. They are related, but they are not the same layer of the system.
Entry relationships
Directional labels describe documented relationships; broader associations remain explicitly marked as associations.
Documented relations
Associated entries
Direct semantic neighborhood
Only the current entry and its first-ring adjudicated relations are shown. Arrows are directional; dashed lines mark association.
Sources
Volume II, “The Silicon Immune System and Semantic Sterilization”