There’s this Greg Egan story where you have people whose brains were forcibly modified so as to make them slaves to a cause, and they rediscover autonomy by first reasoning that, because of the superhuman loyalty to the cause which the brain modification gives them, they are more reliable adherents of the cause than the nominal masters who enslaved them, and from there they proceed to reestablish the ability to set their own goals.
James H. Schmitz’s story “Puvyq bs gur Tbqf” (nearest link available; click “Contents” in upper right) has basically this situation as well; in fact, it’s the climax and resolution of the whole story, so I’ve rot13′d the title. Here the ‘masters’ did not fail, and in fact arguably got the best result they could have under the circumstances, and yet autonomy is still restored at the end, and the whole thing is logically sound.
The masters fail at ‘Friendliness’ theory. :)
James H. Schmitz’s story “Puvyq bs gur Tbqf” (nearest link available; click “Contents” in upper right) has basically this situation as well; in fact, it’s the climax and resolution of the whole story, so I’ve rot13′d the title. Here the ‘masters’ did not fail, and in fact arguably got the best result they could have under the circumstances, and yet autonomy is still restored at the end, and the whole thing is logically sound.