I found the Prime Directive to be one of the hardest lessons in consequentialism. If it existed in the real world, we would not have many of the current problems in the developing world, where people slaughter each other using modern weapons instead of spears and bows. And they coordinate the slaughter using modern tech, too. And the radicalization of Islam has been caused in part by the Western ideas of decompartmentalization. Exploiting poorer nations and depleting their natural resources doesn’t help much, either. The so-called foreign aid does more harm than good, too. If only Europeans had enough sense to refrain from saving the savages until they are ready.
As I said in another comment in this thread, we know that the real-world reason the Prime Directive exists is because Gene Roddenberry hated historical European imperialism. I grant that the Prime Directive may be a handy rule of thumb given imperfect knowledge and the in-universe history of interference. My main problem with it is that it is a zero tolerance policy where the outcome of following it is, rather than someone being expelled for bringing Tylenol to school, the extinction of a species with billions of lives. It would be like if Europeans knew Africa was going to sink into the ocean in one year and weren’t even willing to tell the Africans it was going to happen (and then patting themselves on the back for being so enlightened). And this becomes the core founding principle of the Federation.
My main problem with it is that it is a zero tolerance policy where the outcome of following it is, rather than someone being expelled for bringing Tylenol to school, the extinction of a species with billions of lives.
I don’t think you interpret the Prime Directive the way Gene Roddenberry did. The directive says that you don’t meddle in the affairs of other cultures just because they act in a way that seems wrong to you (incidentally, that’s why I am unimpressed with the reactions of all 3 species in Three Worlds Collide: all 3 are overly Yudkowskian in their interpretation of morality as objective). It does not say that you should not attempt to save them from a certain extinction or disaster, and there are several episodes where our brave heroes do just that. All the while trying to minimize their influence on the said cultures otherwise, admittedly with mixed results.
See the episode Pen Pals. The population is going to be destroyed by a geological collapse, and Picard decides that the Prime Directive requires they let everyone there die. Of course, by sheer luck they hear a girl call for help to Data while they are debating the issue, which Picard determines is a “plea for help” so doesn’t violate the Prime Directive if they respond. But without that plea, they were going to let everyone die (even though they had the technological capability to save the world without anyone knowing they intervened). I believe this episode had the most protracted discussion of the Prirme Directive that we have seen in-fiction. In Homeward Picard considers it a grave violation of the Prime Directive that Worf’s brother has attempted to save a population when everyone on their planet was going to die in 38 hours.
OK, you have a point, sometimes it does not mean what I thought it did. If you look at the general description of it, however, there are 8 items there, only one of them (“Helping a society escape a natural disaster known to the society, even if inaction would result in a society’s extinction.”) of the questionable type you describe. The original statement, “no identification of self or mission; no interference with the social development of said planet; no references to space, other worlds, or advanced civilizations.” also makes perfect sense.
If it existed in the real world, we would not have many of the current problems in the developing world, where people slaughter each other using modern weapons instead of spears and bows.
I am still not convinced that in the parallel reality the life would be better. Why exactly is being killed by a gun worse than being killed by a spear?
In many cases, those civilizations were knocked back to “savage level” by dehumanizing levels of exploitation, colonization, and sheer deliberate destruction by Europeans in the first place.
This doesn’t excuse the behavior of post-colonialist Third World countries, except in the sense that one who creates a power vacuum may bear some responsibility for whoever fills it.
Maybe I was unclear. It seems that you and I agree that the Prime Directive would be a good default deontological rule when dealing with less advanced societies.
I found the Prime Directive to be one of the hardest lessons in consequentialism. If it existed in the real world, we would not have many of the current problems in the developing world, where people slaughter each other using modern weapons instead of spears and bows. And they coordinate the slaughter using modern tech, too. And the radicalization of Islam has been caused in part by the Western ideas of decompartmentalization. Exploiting poorer nations and depleting their natural resources doesn’t help much, either. The so-called foreign aid does more harm than good, too. If only Europeans had enough sense to refrain from saving the savages until they are ready.
As I said in another comment in this thread, we know that the real-world reason the Prime Directive exists is because Gene Roddenberry hated historical European imperialism. I grant that the Prime Directive may be a handy rule of thumb given imperfect knowledge and the in-universe history of interference. My main problem with it is that it is a zero tolerance policy where the outcome of following it is, rather than someone being expelled for bringing Tylenol to school, the extinction of a species with billions of lives. It would be like if Europeans knew Africa was going to sink into the ocean in one year and weren’t even willing to tell the Africans it was going to happen (and then patting themselves on the back for being so enlightened). And this becomes the core founding principle of the Federation.
I don’t think you interpret the Prime Directive the way Gene Roddenberry did. The directive says that you don’t meddle in the affairs of other cultures just because they act in a way that seems wrong to you (incidentally, that’s why I am unimpressed with the reactions of all 3 species in Three Worlds Collide: all 3 are overly Yudkowskian in their interpretation of morality as objective). It does not say that you should not attempt to save them from a certain extinction or disaster, and there are several episodes where our brave heroes do just that. All the while trying to minimize their influence on the said cultures otherwise, admittedly with mixed results.
See the episode Pen Pals. The population is going to be destroyed by a geological collapse, and Picard decides that the Prime Directive requires they let everyone there die. Of course, by sheer luck they hear a girl call for help to Data while they are debating the issue, which Picard determines is a “plea for help” so doesn’t violate the Prime Directive if they respond. But without that plea, they were going to let everyone die (even though they had the technological capability to save the world without anyone knowing they intervened). I believe this episode had the most protracted discussion of the Prirme Directive that we have seen in-fiction. In Homeward Picard considers it a grave violation of the Prime Directive that Worf’s brother has attempted to save a population when everyone on their planet was going to die in 38 hours.
OK, you have a point, sometimes it does not mean what I thought it did. If you look at the general description of it, however, there are 8 items there, only one of them (“Helping a society escape a natural disaster known to the society, even if inaction would result in a society’s extinction.”) of the questionable type you describe. The original statement, “no identification of self or mission; no interference with the social development of said planet; no references to space, other worlds, or advanced civilizations.” also makes perfect sense.
I am still not convinced that in the parallel reality the life would be better. Why exactly is being killed by a gun worse than being killed by a spear?
In many cases, those civilizations were knocked back to “savage level” by dehumanizing levels of exploitation, colonization, and sheer deliberate destruction by Europeans in the first place.
This doesn’t excuse the behavior of post-colonialist Third World countries, except in the sense that one who creates a power vacuum may bear some responsibility for whoever fills it.
Maybe I was unclear. It seems that you and I agree that the Prime Directive would be a good default deontological rule when dealing with less advanced societies.