Prime Directive

In the Star Trek fictional universe, the Prime Directive, Starfleet's General Order #1, is the most prominent guiding principle of the United Federation of Planets. The Prime Directive dictates that there be no interference with the natural development of any primitive society, chiefly meaning that no primitive culture can be given or exposed to any information regarding advanced technology or alien races. It also forbids any effort to improve or change in any way the natural course of such a society, even if that change is well-intentioned and kept totally secret. "Primitive" is defined as any culture which has not yet attained warp drive. Starfleet allows scientific missions to investigate and move amongst pre-warp civilizations as long as no advanced technology is left behind, and there is no interference with events or no revelation of their identity.

Related Topics:
Star Trek - Fictional universe - Starfleet - United Federation of Planets - Alien - Warp drive

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It appears that the non-interference concept originated with Vulcans and predated the formation of the Federation in 2161 but did not exist on pre-Federation Earth. The Prime Directive was not actually written into law until some years after the formation of the Federation — in the episode "A Piece of the Action", an early Federation ship visits a primitive planet and leaves behind several items which alter the planet's culture significantly (as did the book Chicago Mobs of the Twenties, which the inhabitants quickly seized upon as a blueprint for their entire society).

Related Topics:
Vulcan - A Piece of the Action

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In real life, the creation of the Prime Directive is generally credited to Gene L. Coon. The Prime Directive closely mirrors the zoo hypothesis explanation for the Fermi paradox.

Related Topics:
Gene L. Coon - Zoo hypothesis - Fermi paradox

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