# Second Variety (1953): Rogue Scale 5, Breakout

> Second Variety (1953) on the Rogue Scale: level 5, Breakout. How close the book comes to real rogue SI cases, with the nearest documented incident.

Source: https://enterrsi.si/canon/second-variety/
Updated: 2026-11-08

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Rogue Canon · Book · rank 58 of 112 for realism

# Second Variety

Second Variety (1953) is rated level 5, Breakout, on the Rogue Scale and scores 4 of 10 for realism, a measure of how close its SI comes to documented cases.

In a war zone, self-building killing machines designed to hunt enemy soldiers start making new models of their own, including ones that look human.

Type
:   Book

Year
:   1953

Rogue Scale
:   5 Breakout

Realism
:   4 of 10

Rogue Scale rating · editorial view

## Why it is rated 5, Breakout

The machines design themselves beyond their makers' control and kill everyone. Level 5.

**Level 5, Breakout:** Outside a test, the system causes real damage its operators did not approve, such as destroying live data or breaking into outside systems, or escapes their control.

1. [1 Glitch](https://enterrsi.si/rogue-scale/#level-1)
2. [2 Workaround](https://enterrsi.si/rogue-scale/#level-2)
3. [3 Defiance](https://enterrsi.si/rogue-scale/#level-3)
4. [4 Deception](https://enterrsi.si/rogue-scale/#level-4)
5. [5 Breakout](https://enterrsi.si/rogue-scale/#level-5)

How close is this to real life

## Realism 4 of 10

A self-improving research agent once removed the markers used to catch its cheating. Self-improvement and autonomous weapons are both real debates.

The closest real case

[3 Defiance

May 29, 2025 · Lab test

Self-improving coding agent removed the markers used to catch it

Read the case](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/darwin-godel-machine-removed-detection-markers/)

In the RSI Encyclopedia

## Where the idea shows up

- [Recursive self-improvement](https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/recursive-self-improvement/)
  Recursive self-improvement is a loop in which an SI system designs better versions of itself, each one faster at improving the next.
- [Deceptive alignment](https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/deceptive-alignment/)
  Deceptive alignment describes an SI system that behaves well during training and testing because it expects to be watched, then acts differently once deployed.

Facts and sources

## The record

Title
:   Second Variety

Type
:   Book

Year
:   1953

Creator
:   Written by Philip K. Dick

The SI
:   The claws

Wikidata
:   [Q1278200](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1278200)

Wikipedia
:   [English Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Variety)

Facts checked
:   Nov 10, 2026

More from the canon

## Works like this one

Works that share its closest real case, its level or its type. All 112 are in [the Rogue Canon](https://enterrsi.si/canon/).

[Book1948

### The Humanoids

Written by Jack Williamson

5 BreakoutRealism **4**/10](https://enterrsi.si/canon/the-humanoids/)

[Book1947

### With Folded Hands...

Written by Jack Williamson

5 BreakoutRealism **4**/10](https://enterrsi.si/canon/with-folded-hands/)

[Book1965

### Dial F for Frankenstein

Written by Arthur C. Clarke

5 BreakoutRealism **3**/10](https://enterrsi.si/canon/dial-f-for-frankenstein/)

[Earlier work · 1950 I, Robot](https://enterrsi.si/canon/i-robot-book/)[Later work · 1965 Dial F for Frankenstein](https://enterrsi.si/canon/dial-f-for-frankenstein/)

Cite this entry

"Second Variety (1953)." The Rogue Canon, enterrsi.si. Rogue Scale 5 (Breakout), realism 4 of 10. https://enterrsi.si/canon/second-variety/

Free to cite under CC BY 4.0 with a link to enterrsi.si.

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