From: zs@munta.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Zoltan Somogyi)
Subject: Re: ST: TNG - Chariots of the Picard : )
Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
Distribution: aus
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 07:44:42 GMT

kat@bacchus.esa.oz.au (Kathryn Andersen) writes:
>As for the validity of having a Prime Directive at all, I don't know.
>Cartainly no point if you are not going to enforce it.

fraser@munta.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Fraser Wilson) writes:
>This is a good point.  I think that there is a certain justification
>for the Prime Directive, we've seen what happens on Earth when cultures
>merge/clash: the legacy of colonialism will be with us for a long, long
>time.

I don't think that colonialism is the right parallel. Anyone who would
be morally constrained by the Prime Directive would certainly not act
in ways that colonizers behaved. We can safely assume that contact with
the Federation would be far more benign than contact with even the most
friently (least exploitative) colonizers in human history so far.

For me, the proper parallel is the cargo cults. During world war 2,
people living on islands in the Pacific and in New Guinea saw American
troops bring large quantities of food and lots of other good things
("cargo") in planes, and in ships far bigger than any previously seen
by the natives. Then when the tide of war moved on, the Americans
went away, leaving the natives to imagine that the Americans were gods
of plenty who might be enticed back by the setting up of runways, ...

I believe the Prime Directive is a sensible guideline, but that its
application should not be absolute. Once the observers were themselves
observed, contamination of one kind or another became inevitable,
and all your choices are choices of modes of contamination
(extermination of the village is itself a contamination if there is
any communication between villages). I think Picard acted properly when
he decided to convince the villagers that he was not a god, since
I think this was the least harmful course of action.

Where I do not agree with Picard's actions is when he reimposes
application of the Prime directive _after_ the villagers became aware
of the existence of a more advanced civilization (in technological if
not in moral terms). This action can have two results, both negative.
One is the formation of a religion similar to the cargo cults.  The
episode is entirely focused on this possibility, and suggests that the
sight of death on the Enterprise together with the intrinsic
Vulcan-like reasonableness of the natives is sufficient to avoid this.
The episode ignores the second possibility, which is that the natives
will develop deep-seated disapproval or even hatred of the Federation,
because they choose not to share their technology. The next time
someone in the village is maimed or killed because of some illness, the
villagers will _know_ that the Federation medicine could fix the
problem. The resentment will build up, and when the culture develops
starflight it will explode.

Therefore after the Prime Directive broke down, the best course of
action for the Federation would have been to assist the advancement of
the natives. The concerns that caused the setting up of the Prime
Directive would then have to be addressed by making this assistance
passive, e.g. not supplying answers until the natives learn to
formulate the proper question, and structuring its form properly, e.g.
giving the same information to all villages at approximately the same
time. This would undoubtebly present great practical problems, and even
if these were solved would not be perfect; I don't think it would be
possible to _guarantee_ that the natives won't use Federation-donated
technology for wars among themselves. But I think overall this is a
better solution than giving them a glimpse of Heaven and then
withdrawing it.

If any of you detect any similarity between the previous paragraphs
and ideas from Speaker for the Dead, you are right.

Zoltan Somogyi <zs@cs.mu.OZ.AU>
Department of Computer Science, University of Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Newsgroups: aus.sf