[TML] A Plague of Spacemen

[James Ramsay]

John Kwon wrote:
> On 10/9/07, royce at efn.org <royce at efn.org> wrote:
>   
>> About what I'd guessed.  Just checking.  Thanks.
>>   Sincerely,
>> Asher
>>
>> PS  It's tempting to bring up purchasing power comparisons between high
>> and low tech worlds, but let's not.  Studies on relative purchasing power
>> between Earth's historical eras produce muddle aplenty already.
>>     
>
>
> I am a firm believer that the Star Trek Prime Directive (which they didn't
> seem to follow) was a bit of wisdom, as far as planets with radically
> different technology goes.
>
> Look at the trouble it causes here on Earth when we let technology go
> anywhere.
>   
But then you get a bunch of hand wringers crying that you are oppressing 
the poor low-techers by not giving them tech. That happens today on 
Earth, one group of people complain that we don't help the third world 
enough, and another complains we are destroying their culture by giving 
them modern tech.

New technology is often disruptive even in the cultures that developed 
it, I don't think their is a way to introduce radical tech that won't 
cause disruption. The closest you could get to minimal disruption, while 
still helping low-techers, would be to black box everything and have off 
worlders actually run and repair it. But that is treating the 
low-techers like children, and nobody likes that.

Also the core premise of the Prime Directive, that cultures mature until 
they are ready for certain technology, is the biggest load of bollocks I 
have ever seen. Star Trek is utopian fantasy.


-- 
the_raptor
"As for sniping... Dude, I was a freaking sniper!
 It's what I do!" - Doug Berry