Aside from Asimov's bullshit laws which are easily broken (as is often demonstrated in his stories - which was why he wrote them in the first place.) - they can be overridden. The laws cannot cover ethical, judgemental, philosophical or other dilemmas.
A machine is not a conscious entity. It follows instructions. Changing those instructions is inevitible. I can own a refigerator capable of declaring it's incapable of hurting anyone. That won't stop someone getting killed if it falls on them. Those laws have very low thresholds of responsibility.
Besides. Bishop gave the information to Ripley after she enquired at the analysis. Bishop did not seek out the onboard consultant in the first place to do so. Burke provided instruction to proceed with the analysis and ignored Ripley - for the very purpose he convinced her to be included in the mission in the first place.
Remember, a machine has no moral compass - it can only do what it is told. Bishop was following Burke's instructions as a priority. Regardless of how safe the practice was, the mission's authority (by proxy, Ripley) was not consulted in this regard. Should Bishop have discussed this activity first given her role aboard the Sulaco? Absolutely. Otherwise, what's the point of bringing Ripley along in the first place?
Did the android perform this task, responsiby. No. Burke would have specified to the android NOT to discuss it with Ripley.
That's a breach of Asimov's nonsensical Laws right there because a machine can only follow instructions, in the end, Bishop is just spouting bullshit about his 'behavioural inhibitors' when it attempts to calm Ripley.
I'm looking forward to the new 'WestWorld' TV series. I am expecting to see some very interesting investigations into the notion of 'Machines Masquerading as Men'. The original movie was cool. So was the recent 'Real Humans' TV show. ...and even 'BSG's best moments were about Humanlike machines and f*cking dangerous these things can be. 'Blade Runner' performs similar examinations.
Try telling Roy Baty how important his 'Behavioral Inhibitors' are in terms of human interaction and he'll rip yer heart out... Speaking of which, the Terminator infiltration units are following instructions, too. Go tell one of them about precious Asimov's bullshit Three Laws of robotics are and you'll find out it's really meaningless.
Asimov DID NOT write the Bible on robotics and ethics. He just came up with a set of 'general rules' to follow; not a Holy set of 4 Commandments for Robots. That's it. Nothing more. Mostly, his Laws are erroneous, subject to misinterpretation and being broken. He knew that, too, which is why he wrote those stories in the first place.
-Windebieste.
