Prime Directive Political Theory
Arguing about fantastical politics is more satisfying than arguing about real ones. The situation is timeless, an object to played with as long or as little as you like, and the philosophical gains are applicable as far as you care to extend analogy. Take the Prime Directive, for instance. Though I’ve never attended a sci-fi convention, I was a raised a Trekkie, and will always carry with me that interminable optimism instilled in me by Gene Roddenberry.
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the Prime Directive formulated as the commandment it’s treated as, but the literal wording is hardly important. Picard has to wrestle with it practically every other episode, and when he does, he drags a whole lot of other philosophy into the ring. In “Who Watches the Watchers?”, some primitive proto-Vulcans appear to be on a development path similar to humans. They once lived in caves, now in huts, and someday they will build spaceships, too. Because that’s what humanoid life-forms do (obviously).
But what about super-advanced aliens that built spaceships and then decided to settle down into a nice “primitive” lifestyle like the Mintakans? The Prime Directive prevents the Federation from making contact with pre-warp civilizations, lest they interfere with their “natural progression.” They treat planet-bound cultures like impressionable children. Yet the Mintakan culture hardly seems permanently damaged when the “more advanced” crew of the Enterprise finally comes clean. In fact, it’s only then that they fix the problems they created by trying out little white lies (for their own good) and reach mutual understanding.
What about the people of Rubicun III from “Justice”? You know, those blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white-toga’ed folk who run around and kill you if you step on the grass. Why were they deemed ready for contact, but not the Mintakans? And at what point is a civilization ready for first contact? Even without a warp drive, if they reach out first it might be a sign that they’re “advanced enough” or “mature enough” or whatever.
So in “Pen Pals”, Data receives a distress call from a little girl named Sarjenka. Her planet is dying, and her people with it, so she uses her radio to attempt communication with the stars. It’s Sarjenka who makes first contact; Data is not contaminating her mind with far-advanced technology, simply engaging in a cross-cultural exchange. But when this communication is revealed, Picard claims it violates the Prime Directive and proceeds to wonder about the ethics of saving the planet at all. Valuing other cultures is one thing, but here the Prime Directive seems to imply a belief in fate: if it is the planet’s destiny to blow to kingdom come, so it is the destiny of that culture to die out. Thankfully the value their culture places on life leads them to save the day.
Except that they wipe Sarjenka’s mind so that no one’s the wiser. WTF.
No doubt the Prime Directive is generally a good idea, in that the alternative to a non-interference policy is rampant colonialism and evangelicalism. But at what point are they calling on notions fate and a fixed line of progress to make difficult ethical decisions? How should they act when other cultures have conflicting values: should the Federation tolerate slavery, genocide, and oppression in the name of the Prime Directive? Is contacting the nanomites that were consuming the Enterprise in “Evolution” a violation of the Prime Directive? Beyond different values, what about species with different intelligences? Should intelligence be quantified right along with technological advancement — with a threshold for Federation membership?
Thankfully Star Trek never assumes there are simple, or even right, answers to these questions. Which is why they struggle with them so often. Nor was it frivolous to have a long discussion with Papa about the laws and values of a fictional universe: we can turn our minds to the our own universe and see foreign policy from a new perspective. Theory guides pragmatic action, but the messy details of the real world force us into compromises before we even get a chance to look at the big picture.
Play in fiction, and never abandon your toys.