Prime Directive Response Essay
Prime Directive Response
When dealing with foreign sentient species, it is crucial to maintain what is know as a prime directive. This is the notion that a species may explore distant planets, but must take certain precautions when dealing with other sentient species to prevent any change in their progression. In the novel Speaker for the Dead, the citizens of Lusitania go to great lengths to preserve their prime directive, but the indigenous species appear to benefit from their encounters with these humans, and begin to realize it themselves.
The natives of the planet Lusitania, known to the humans as “piggies”, have learned much from the humans in the brief time that they have lived together. The human languages, Stark and Portuguese, …show more content…
Their culture seems backwards to the humans, but that does not justify any interference, even if it would potentially benefit the piggies. The two species are simply too far apart in progression to be able to successfully interact with each other. The fact that two humans have already been killed, and brutally so (at least in human standards), reinforces this idea. The piggies' culture is still hindered by radical traditions that the humans do not understand and most likely never will. By even being around the piggies, the humans are inserting themselves into the piggies' rituals and culture. The piggies may eventually realize that their culture is backwards and may abandon such rituals earlier than they would have. Or perhaps, they may even adapt their culture to human standards. With this being said, it seems apparent that even minimal contact between the two species is having a subtle but profound effect on both societies. The cultural difference of the piggies is too vast to allow interactions with the humans if the Prime Directive is to be maintained. Already, as is seen on pages 144-145, one of the natives realized that the humans are using metals as a resource to accomplish greater tasks, such as flight. It may have taken decades for the piggies to have discovered metal as a useful resource on their own. The humans
When dealing with foreign sentient species, it is crucial to maintain what is know as a prime directive. This is the notion that a species may explore distant planets, but must take certain precautions when dealing with other sentient species to prevent any change in their progression. In the novel Speaker for the Dead, the citizens of Lusitania go to great lengths to preserve their prime directive, but the indigenous species appear to benefit from their encounters with these humans, and begin to realize it themselves.
The natives of the planet Lusitania, known to the humans as “piggies”, have learned much from the humans in the brief time that they have lived together. The human languages, Stark and Portuguese, …show more content…
Their culture seems backwards to the humans, but that does not justify any interference, even if it would potentially benefit the piggies. The two species are simply too far apart in progression to be able to successfully interact with each other. The fact that two humans have already been killed, and brutally so (at least in human standards), reinforces this idea. The piggies' culture is still hindered by radical traditions that the humans do not understand and most likely never will. By even being around the piggies, the humans are inserting themselves into the piggies' rituals and culture. The piggies may eventually realize that their culture is backwards and may abandon such rituals earlier than they would have. Or perhaps, they may even adapt their culture to human standards. With this being said, it seems apparent that even minimal contact between the two species is having a subtle but profound effect on both societies. The cultural difference of the piggies is too vast to allow interactions with the humans if the Prime Directive is to be maintained. Already, as is seen on pages 144-145, one of the natives realized that the humans are using metals as a resource to accomplish greater tasks, such as flight. It may have taken decades for the piggies to have discovered metal as a useful resource on their own. The humans