• lfbno7 said on Nov 18, 2007....

  What are we applying that too? When has our history proved that a well intentioned interference has resulted in disaster? Most of our history is packed with hostile takeovers. Can't think of an incident, offhand, where one nation tried to do something nice for another.

• silverwhisper said on Nov 18, 2007....

  i should point out that the prime directive is a function of the federation's considerable technological advantage against most peers... :>
  
  ed

• kelly said on Nov 19, 2007....

  Could you explain that a bit more for me, silver?  I'm not really getting your point.  

• silverwhisper said on Nov 19, 2007....

  the prime directive at heart is about not "contaminating" other cultures by introducing new technologies they have not yet themselves developed. thus, a federation officer would be obliged to prevent a civilization that just began its starfaring from acquiring warp engine technology from him/her self or ship.
  
  when i said "peers" in my previous comment, that was obviously incorrect--most civilizations that are true peers with the federation (e.g., cardassians, ferengi, klingons, romulans, what have you) are technologically on the same footing.
  
  ed

• ALIENated said on Nov 19, 2007....

  So we should have left the Germans alone in the 40s to fulfill their destiny? We
  should definitely stay out of Africa and Mexico, that is for sure. And probably the
  Middle East. At least until they develop nuclear weapons. Wait, they have TV
  in those places, right? So the prime directive is probably already a mute point
  as related to the planet you are on. Well, that sounded good there for a while.
  While I love Star Trek (purely as entertainment), it usually puts forth the liberal
  views of its creater, Gene Roddenbury, and seldom examines the other side of
  issues.
  

• Antimatter said on Nov 19, 2007....

  I should probably clarify the events of that episode a little. The civilization in question was already spacefaring and did not seem surprised to see a warp-capable ship, so there was no risk of technological contamination. (There was no indication whether they were warp capable, but they did have transporters.) The entire civilization was essentially enslaved by an adjacent planet, producing goods in exchange for vast quantities of the drug. Beverly Crusher wanted to develop something akin to a Nicotine patch that would disrupt this trade imbalance and end what she saw as exploitation, which evoked the above reaction from the captain.

  The Prime Directive does not apply to allies.

• kelly said on Nov 25, 2007....

  Thanks, silver.  That clarification on the "peers" thing did it.

• crybabylu said on Jan 05, 2008....

  you gotta love Picard. I thought the writing for that series was superb!

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