A question for you nerds

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Well, they should have had a bigger Navy and more B-52s.

[brewer]

Hitler was a big ol alien. No human could take a pineapple up their ass. The prime directive does not apply.

ST-TOS: S2E21

[Apollo]

Never was a star trek or star wars fan. A friend once said it’s a generation thing but I disagree. Star Wars came out in 70’s and Star Trek has been on since 60’s —I was a kid like any in 70’s. I think it has more to do with kinda things you’re exposed to early on and what catches your fancy.

[The Grand Nudger]

I think that it's instructive that peoples own planetary history and their ideas -of it- decide whether or not they agree with the directive. A theme explored in the temporal directive.

The Temporal Prime Directive was mentioned by Captain Jean-Luc Picard in 2368. Picard postulated that the existence of such a directive might be what was preventing a traveler from the future from aiding him to avert the destruction of Penthara IV.

Perhaps we truly do need to experience global starvation, for example..in order to come to a more thoughtful and less hungry vision of the future. Maybe that misery is the difference making fact. That we learn to be our best by avoiding our worst, and our worst must be a thing to refer to in order for that to be the case.

Sci fi rocks.

We just passed the eugenics war phase of the star trek timeline. No eugenics wars. Score.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Never was a star trek or star wars fan. A friend once said it’s a generation thing but I disagree. Star Wars came out in 70’s and Star Trek has been on since 60’s —I was a kid like any in 70’s. I think it has more to do with kinda things you’re exposed to early on and what catches your fancy.

Born in 1951, bored by 1966.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Given the number of times the Prime Directive was violated with can only be described as ‘joyous abandon’, I think Germany would have been attacked anyway.

Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

Ish. Before enterprise, yes, after, not so much. Even in the context of the temporal prime interference was insisted to maintain the way that things would play out, otherwise. So..a culture using prime or temporal prime would always have a compelling reason to let hitler happen. Hitler happening is terrible...theres no dispute there, but the idea of prime and temporal prime is that things like that have to happen for a people to be ready for first contact. The idea might not be entirely wrong. We probably should be familiar with the whole range of earthly human experience before we use those/that to resolve (by reference) inter planetary (or inter galactic, or inter temporal) disputes.

The whole point of it is that is a stricture created and maintained by a different species with different circumstances (vulcans) who used it and then selected us as a member of the space community on account of it. Plenty of bad shit happened to us, bad shit that the vulcans wouldn't have lifted a finger to stop. At the end of that and because of that, we become credible partners in galactic nation building. Especially relevant, since the romulans( desc of vulc) went a different way with that, and have a head start...and the klingons have a wholly different set of value making metrics.

[onlinebiker]

Given the number of times the Prime Directive was violated with can only be described as ‘joyous abandon’, I think Germany would have been attacked anyway.

Boru

Kirk thought of it as "The Prime Suggestion"...



Janeway would massacre her crew to avoid breaking it...

[Peebothuhlu]

At work.

I always knew the 'Prime Directive' was simply a useful plot device. Much like Asimov's 'Three laws of robotics' (Technically four, I think).

Something around events happened hence giving character's things to explore and develop.

As the newer series were aired I watched on with bemusement as the writers behind the scenes seemed to completely lose the plot about just whwt the 'Prime directives' were supposed to be about.

[ignoramus]

Prime directives are meaningless if eg: the CCP were landing on a new inhabited planet.
It basically works with govts with a moral code and a rule of law.

It really is just science fiction.
(If it was a planet full of neanderthals we landed on, we would simply say "no intelligent life here guys" and continue to rape the planet or make it earth 2.0.)