Prime Directive - Use in Other Science Fiction

Use in Other Science Fiction

• Jack Williamson's 1947 novella With Folded Hands features the phrase Prime Directive prominently, however in this context it refers to the attempts by a race of humanoid robots to make all of humanity happy, which leads to a form of pampered slavery.
• In Olaf Stapledon's 1937 novel Star Maker, great care is taken by the Symbiont race to keep its existence hidden from "pre-utopian" primitives, "lest they should lose their independence of mind". It is only when such worlds become utopian-level space travellers that the Symbionts make contact and bring the young utopia to an equal footing.
• In L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens books the planet Krishna is protected by Regulation 368 whose Section 4, subsection 24, paragraph 15 reads: "it is forbidden to communicate to any native resident of the planet Krishna any device, appliance, machine, tool, weapon, or invention representing an improvement upon the science and technology already in existence upon this planet." As with the Federation's own Prime Directive there were inconsistencies—Printing and soap were allowed but knowledge of more advanced economics weren't. Also Regulation 368 does not forbid interference with Krishna culture by travelers as long as that interference is not technological in nature.
• In the Babylon 5 universe, the concept of keeping advanced technology from the less advanced races who were not ready for it was cited.
  • In the episode, "Deathwalker," a renegade Dilgar scientist named Jha'dur is captured but bargains her freedom with a breakthrough medication that grants immortality. Before her medication can be mass-produced, she is killed by the Vorlons. Ambassador Kosh Naranek tells an assembled audience, 'You are not ready for immortality.'
  • When Epsilon III was discovered to be harboring a gigantic machine in the two part episode "A Voice in the Wilderness," it is discovered that a living being named Varn had integrated himself with the machine to act as a CPU for the machine. Because this being was dying, the Minbari Draal took the place of Varn as the CPU. In space, a battle was taking place over ownership of the machine. The Earth Alliance was fighting to keep criminals that were the same species as Varn from taking the planet. Draal appeared to everyone involved in the dispute. He said that because the planet's technology would give an unfair advantage to any one race, that the planet was off limits to all.
  • After the Vorlons had left the galaxy, a number of people attempted to travel to Vorlon to lay claim to the advanced technology there. The planet's automated defense systems destroyed those who approached the planet. In the episode "The Fall of Centauri Prime," Lyta explains that humanity was not presently meant to have Vorlon technology. She went on to say that humanity would be unable to go to Vorlon until they were ready, which would be at least one million years after the events of the series.
  • On the other hand, in the Crusade episode Visitors From Down the Street, Captain Matthew Gideon would launch a full spread of modified probes (uploaded with considerable information about Earth and other Interstellar Alliance worlds, and about certain recent events which had transpired aboard the EAS Excalibur) at a pre-hyperspace planet where Humans had been cast (by the local government) in a role reminiscent of the Grey Aliens in our culture, in order to expose the locals to the truth. His Exec, John Matheson, would make reference to the gist of the Prime Directive as a criticism some might apply to this act. Captain Gideon acknowledged the possible critics, but then said, "Screw 'em."
• In Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series, the Starways Congress established the law that no alien culture found is to be provided with superior technology or any information about the human society in order to preserve the natural development of the culture. In Speaker for the Dead, this is interpreted very strictly, to the point that the scientists studying the Pequeninos are not allowed to draw blood, for fear of giving the Pequeninos the hint that there is something to be learned from studying blood. The scientists, however, violate the prohibitions.
• In Futurama, The Democratic Order of Planets' "Brannigan's Law" is a parody of the Prime Directive, and prohibits interfering with undeveloped worlds. Zapp Brannigan, after whom the law is named, states that "I don't pretend to understand Brannigan's law; I merely enforce it."
• In the Animorphs series, the Law of Seerow's Kindness was passed by the Andalites to outlaw the passing of technology to alien species. This law was a consequence of Seerow's Kindness, in which an Andalite named Prince Seerow gave the Yeerks advanced technology, leading directly to their sudden rise in galactic importance.
• In the Stargate universe, attitudes toward a noninterference policy vary:
  • The Tau'ri, or humans of Earth, have a totally opposite spin on interference than the Federation, holding it to be Earth's duty to assist humans on other planets, and most other non-hostile races, wherever possible in whatever way possible. However, they never share technology without good reason, and are often hesitant to give potentially dangerous technology such as weapons or strategically important materials away. They also refuse to accept or give technology to any civilization which practices morally reprehensible deeds, including one which practiced racial superiority and ethnic cleansing. The relatively middling nature of Earth technology, and the suddenness with which Earth became a major interstellar player, may have something to do with this attitude. In any event, the Tau'ri are wary of following in the footsteps of the Goa'uld, who pose as gods on less-advanced worlds.
  • The Tollan followed a policy effectively the same as the Prime Directive, following the destruction of a neighboring planet caused by the misuse of power-generating technology given to them by the Tollan.
  • The Asgard dislike sharing most of their technology, but nevertheless were willing to give technology in gratitude to an inferior race; this is how Earth got its hyperdrive and power source for that hyperdrive. However, they draw the line at providing any form of offensive technology to other races.
  • It is unknown whether the Ancients shared much technology pre-Ascension, but post-Ascension they adopted a policy of strict noninterference for any reason, as a consequence of their belief in reason and the generally deontological mindset they tended to express. It does however seem to have an exception in that it can be violated to punish another violator under some extreme circumstances. Such penalties often strike down not only the violator, but also all the people of the civilization their interference affected.
  • The Ori, on the other hand, flaunt the technological benefits of Ascension; while it cannot strictly be said that they share technology, they do interfere with the less-advanced.
• The Time Lords of Gallifrey in the television show Doctor Who are said to have practiced non-interference, especially related to their ability to travel anywhere in time or space. The Doctor himself is considered a "renegade" Time Lord because where his fellow Time Lords are content to observe the evil in the Universe, he has elected to fight against it. However, there are episodes that seem to contradict this view, or at least to point to a relaxation of it: "Genesis of the Daleks," where the Time Lords ask the Doctor to prevent the creation of the Daleks or at least change them into a less violent race, "Image of the Fendahl," where the Time Lords destroyed the fifth planet of Sol and then used a Time Loop to hide all records of its existence, and "Two Doctors," where the Time Lords enlist the aid of the Doctor to prevent the independent development of their method of time travel.
• Sylvia Louise Engdahl's novel Enchantress from the Stars also features the Prime Directive. A member of the original crew is killed upon landing on a primitive planet, Andrecia, when she is shot at. She dies without defending herself despite being able to shield herself using advanced technology.
• The term is used, in fact Prime Directive is the title of a section, of Arthur C. Clarke's "A Meeting with Medusa," which supposes that life, probably intelligent, has been discovered in the atmosphere of Jupiter. (The story was published in Playboy, in 1971.)
• Thomas Pynchon's 2006 novel Against the Day, in a parody of serial fiction, features a young men's organization, the "Chums of Chance", whose Charter includes a paraphrase of Star Trek's Prime Directive, "never to interfere with legal customs of any locality at which we may have happened to touch."
• The Swedish artist and poet Johannes Heldén made a poetic web-installation entitled The Prime Directive in 2006, located at the Danish virtual exhibition room for visual poetry, literature, and visual art, Afsnit P.
• The Star Ocean series of video games feature a Prime Directive in all of its titles. For example, the Pangalactic Federation in the game Star Ocean: Till the End of Time has a similar law to the Prime Directive called the Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact (UP3), violations of which are only mitigated under situations where there is a significant threat to "life and limb."
• In Chapter 21 of Arthur C. Clarke's 3001: The Final Odyssey, a parallel is drawn between the prime directive and the monolith's forbiddance of human-Europan interaction.
• In the Hainish Cycle, while interaction with cultures is rather free, the Planet of Exile mentions the Law of Cultural Embargo, which states: No Religion or Congruence shall be disseminated, no technique or theory shall be taught, no cultural set or pattern shall be exported, nor shall para-verbal speech be used with any non-Communicant high-intelligence lifeform, or any Colonial Planet, until it be judged by the Area Council with the consent or the Plenum that such a planet be ready for Control or for Membership