[TML] A Plague of Spacemen

[Richard Aiken]

On 10/11/07, James Ramsay <quakers_united at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> 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.

I can see one potential way a "Prime Directive" would be beneficial to
both the protected culture and the protecting culture.  By not letting
the protected culture know that someone else has already solved all
the important problems, you leave that culture with the incentive to
keep trying to solve them (in their own way).  By doing this, you
might also benefit yourself, since that culture may come up with a
better solution to something than the one you found.

-- 
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein