Jason Silver

Tuesday, November 19th, 2002

Not Sure About This Prime Directive Stuff

I wonder why the Prime Directive? It seems like it's a device to explain why we haven't been visited by Aliens: we're not ready. But do other life forms out there (if there are any) really care about that? Part of the underlying error in the prime directive is the belief that we as a species are getting better as time passes; that we are getting more peaceful, less destructive-- more able to live in harmony with one another. There's a sense that as we 'evolve' other already evolved life forms will have something in common with us, want to share with us. It also looks at knowledge as the ultimate good-- that it's better to know than it is to not know, but that's definitely not true. Are we any better because we know about nuclear physics?

In some ways, I think peoples of the past, say 2000 years ago-- those people may have been better equiped to handle a visit from aliens than people today, or worse-- people from 100 years ago.

Tags:hobbies favourite_shows Star_Trek 0 likes ↑