Nobody ever follows the Prime Directive. — Vera Mont
If you have space travel capability and an impulsion to help those in trouble, it's impossible to obey. — Vera Mont
an impulsion to help those in trouble — Vera Mont
The gods are images of man magnified to whatever size it takes to grant their wishes. — Vera Mont
Proof? — Agree-to-Disagree
Aliens not only are not bound by the PD; they've never even heard of it. We can have no idea how they think or what motivates them.If you know that interfering is likely to cause things to be worse than not interfering, then it would be possible to obey the Prime Directive. Some aliens might not want to play god. — Agree-to-Disagree
Explain that to Data. We know the theory of why a PD was formulated, but that 'right measure' is a lot easier to put on paper than to carry out in the real world. For a start, how the hell do you know whether an action will eventually result in more harm than good? It's possible that a patient being fitted for a pacemaker right now will commit a mass murder next year, but that doesn't stop the cardiologist doing his job.You've gotta be cruel to be kind, in the right measure. — Agree-to-Disagree
The gods don't. Only the one particular customized god you invent for yourself does.It is amazing that the gods want the same things that I want. — Agree-to-Disagree
I've seen every Star Trek, Next Generation, Voyager and DS9 episode at least three times. You do realize that the Prime Directive is exclusive to that franchise? — Vera Mont
Aliens not only are not bound by the PD; they've never even heard of it. — Vera Mont
We can have no idea how they think or what motivates them. — Vera Mont
Explain that to Data. — Vera Mont
Then you know more about aliens than I do. As to whether it makes good sense - maybe not equally to everybody.But the Prime Directive makes good sense and I am sure that aliens with space travel capability are intelligent enough to work it out for themselves. — Agree-to-Disagree
He understands the 'logic'; what he had trouble with was the cruelty, which is why he would not abandon Sarjenka.I am confident that Data can understand the logic behind "You've gotta be cruel to be kind, in the right measure". Human parents usually understand this concept. — Agree-to-Disagree
And it's BS, by the way. Parents need to be firm sometimes, but they never have to be cruel. — Vera Mont
It seems to me :nerd: the "non-interference" PD only makes statistical sense such that, if and when Terran civilization invents FTL "warp drive" so that there is non-negligble risk of making direct contact with – biologically contaminating – or even aggressively threatening an ETI's "civilization", only then will the need arise for an ETI to interfere with us either to Terra's benefit (à la Star Trek: First Contact) or detriment (à la Village of the Damned ... or Invasion of the Body Snatchers ... or Annihilation). TBD. :yikes:... the Prime Directive makes good sense ... — Agree-to-Disagree
And bearded men on clouds don't work on me either. — Jamal
What evidence or experience would convince you that (e.g.) "the God of Abraham" at least one personal God/dess (of any religious tradition) exists? — 180 Proof
What proof do you have that ants don't philosophize? — Agree-to-Disagree
It is cruel to make children eat vegetables. :grin: — Agree-to-Disagree
Hitting, locking in a closet, starving, ear-pulling, burning with cigarette ends, force-feeding, carping and exorcism are cruelties. Allowing is not a cruelty. Is it not kind to let children bump a knee, but non-interference where the parent can see such a consequence might teach the child to exercise caution another time. Non-interference when he's about to fall off a three-storey building is counter-productive.You have to be cruel (let them make mistakes which "hurt" them) — Agree-to-Disagree
What proof do you have that ants don't philosophize?
— Agree-to-Disagree
I step on them before they can develop the social conditions for philosophy. — Lionino
When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything. — G.K.Chesterton
When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything." — unenlightened
I’m an atheist because I don’t see any evidence for any of the religions. — an-salad
be decent to one another. — Vera Mont
It's an enormous PR success. It was promulgated and sold in Roman format, under the auspices of a mighty empire with some pretty canny administrators. They had the missionaries, the architects and enforcers to cobble every pagan sect into some semblance of the Christian faith. — Vera Mont
The church may or may not have christianized the Empire, but more significantly, the Empire certainly imperially bureaucratized the church. — BC
You have probably stepped on the ant equivalent of Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. — Agree-to-Disagree
once the organization was solidly established, it required an enormous, far-reaching administrative structure - communications, banking, supervision of the monastic orders, educational facilities, construction projects.... — Vera Mont
(I don't say christianize, since Christ seems to have been pushed farther and farther from the center of The One True Faith as it gained power — Vera Mont
The one I recall most fondly was in a little nothing village, built of adobe, like most of the houses, and whitewashed once every three years. Dirt floor, studded with walnut shells, got sprinkled with water in summertime. Wooden altar and pews. The roof would probably have to be reshingled about once a generation. Get enough volunteer hands, it cost hardly anything at all.Don't get me wrong -- I love a nicely maintained charming old church. But charming old churches are a bottomless pit of maintenance expenses. — BC
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