"The Omega Glory":
"Bread and Circuses":
So if Spock believes that the Prime Directive is right, and/or that he must obey his oath to follow the Prime Directive, Spock would be willing to let his six subordinate die, or even to kill them himself, if necessary to prevent any interference with the social development of the planet. And what interferes the most with the social development of a planet?
Killing even one native of the planet.
In a primitive society like that on Taurus II, the population is likely to remain almost static from generation to generation, century to century, millennia to millennia, until finally civilization develops and the population starts to increase. On the average each couple may have several children who don't live to reproduce, and also about two who do live to reproduce. So an average couple is likely to have two children, four grandchildren, eight great grandchildren, and so on. And if their descendants don't die out within a few generations there are likely to continue for thousands of years, tens of thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of years, until their species dies out.
After 10 generations, they will have about 1,024 descendants in the 10th generation, after 20 generations, they will have about 1,048,576 descendants in the 20th generation, after 30 generations they will have about 1,000,000,000 descendants in the 30th generation, after 40 generations they will have about 1,000,000,000,000 descendants in the 40th generation, after 50 generations they will have about 1,000,000,000,000,000 descendants in the 50th generation, and so on and so on.
Of course the number of their descendants will be lessened by the constant intermarriages between various descendants who are distant cousins and don't know it. But their descendants will spread out slowly over the planet until they are everywhere, and within a few millennia every single member of their species will be a descendant of theirs. And then for tens and hundreds of thousands of years afterwards, every single member of their species will be a descendant of that original pair (and also descendants of many other couples alive in their era, of course).
So if Spock randomly kills various natives, he is likely to kill one who would otherwise have children and descendants that would increase in number and eventually become the entire population of his species for countless ages to come. Thus randomly killing natives is likely to change the entire population of the species for countless ages to come. Which seems like a big change to me.
An Arthur C. Clarke story, "A Meeting with Medusa" (1971) I think, had a scene where the protagonist discovers lifeforms in the clouds of Jupiter. He remembers a television program he once saw with an astronaut and a space lawyer. The space lawyer mentions the laws about contact with alien life, whether intelligent of not. He says that the law of space requires an astronaut who encounters alien life to do everything he possibly can to avoid disturbing or interfering with the alien life, even at the coast of the astronaut's life. The astronaut asks incredulously if that means he has to let an alien creature eat him without fighting back. "That's right." the lawyer says.
And the Prime Directive as formulated in "The Omega Glory" and "Bread and Circuses" seems equally strict. You and I might not agree with the Prime Directive, but according to those episodes Spock has sworn to uphold a very strict Prime Directive. The Human crew of the Galileo 7 may think that Spock is acting harshly, going by the rule book, and disregarding their safety, but the mere fact that Spock tries to do something at all to save their lives shows he's acting like a sentimental softy and is bending the rules badly to protect them.
"Bread and Circuses":
So if Spock believes that the Prime Directive is right, and/or that he must obey his oath to follow the Prime Directive, Spock would be willing to let his six subordinate die, or even to kill them himself, if necessary to prevent any interference with the social development of the planet. And what interferes the most with the social development of a planet?
Killing even one native of the planet.
In a primitive society like that on Taurus II, the population is likely to remain almost static from generation to generation, century to century, millennia to millennia, until finally civilization develops and the population starts to increase. On the average each couple may have several children who don't live to reproduce, and also about two who do live to reproduce. So an average couple is likely to have two children, four grandchildren, eight great grandchildren, and so on. And if their descendants don't die out within a few generations there are likely to continue for thousands of years, tens of thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of years, until their species dies out.
After 10 generations, they will have about 1,024 descendants in the 10th generation, after 20 generations, they will have about 1,048,576 descendants in the 20th generation, after 30 generations they will have about 1,000,000,000 descendants in the 30th generation, after 40 generations they will have about 1,000,000,000,000 descendants in the 40th generation, after 50 generations they will have about 1,000,000,000,000,000 descendants in the 50th generation, and so on and so on.
Of course the number of their descendants will be lessened by the constant intermarriages between various descendants who are distant cousins and don't know it. But their descendants will spread out slowly over the planet until they are everywhere, and within a few millennia every single member of their species will be a descendant of theirs. And then for tens and hundreds of thousands of years afterwards, every single member of their species will be a descendant of that original pair (and also descendants of many other couples alive in their era, of course).
So if Spock randomly kills various natives, he is likely to kill one who would otherwise have children and descendants that would increase in number and eventually become the entire population of his species for countless ages to come. Thus randomly killing natives is likely to change the entire population of the species for countless ages to come. Which seems like a big change to me.
An Arthur C. Clarke story, "A Meeting with Medusa" (1971) I think, had a scene where the protagonist discovers lifeforms in the clouds of Jupiter. He remembers a television program he once saw with an astronaut and a space lawyer. The space lawyer mentions the laws about contact with alien life, whether intelligent of not. He says that the law of space requires an astronaut who encounters alien life to do everything he possibly can to avoid disturbing or interfering with the alien life, even at the coast of the astronaut's life. The astronaut asks incredulously if that means he has to let an alien creature eat him without fighting back. "That's right." the lawyer says.
And the Prime Directive as formulated in "The Omega Glory" and "Bread and Circuses" seems equally strict. You and I might not agree with the Prime Directive, but according to those episodes Spock has sworn to uphold a very strict Prime Directive. The Human crew of the Galileo 7 may think that Spock is acting harshly, going by the rule book, and disregarding their safety, but the mere fact that Spock tries to do something at all to save their lives shows he's acting like a sentimental softy and is bending the rules badly to protect them.
