The Prime Directive and Janus IV

[Myasishchev]

I think that the PD wasn't actually invented until later than "Devil in the Dark" but to the best of my knowledge its in-universe existence at the time is not questioned...

My question is whether, by interfering with the Horta, Kirk and co. violated the PD.

I think we can probably safely assume that the Horta are at least pre-warp; although no particular technological civilization is evident, I wouldn't rule it out (we may be only seeing one Horta anthill anyway, a single community of a much larger global entity), but they are pretty clearly not spacefarers.

The PD doesn't, as I understand it, apply to Fed civilians (which always seemed to me like a very odd exception). So the Janus IV Mining Corporation or whatever it is are presumably immune from prosecution on these grounds. They might be liable in tort for the destruction of a great number of the Horta queen's children, although the value a mother of 30,000 places on eggs that may or may not even be fertilized is beyond the scope of this question, and hard to evaluate in any case from our perspective. At any rate, I guess the Janus IV miners are in the clear regarding criminal prosecution, although attempted murder, lynching, and conspiracy charges are hardly off the table, given their actions.

So some issues arise given the events of "Devil in the Dark":

1)Whether a Starfleet officer assisting Federation citizens in the extermination of an intelligent alien life form is in violation of the Prime Directive; additionally, whether the mental component of a PD violation is intent or negligence, or perhaps knowledge or recklessness depending upon how the applicable statute or regulation is worded and how Feds categorize their mens rea components.
2)Whether a Starfleet officer, changing his mind and deciding to shield a pre-warp alien civilization from the depredations Federation civilians, is in violation of the Prime Directive.
3)What the proper procedure is, when a Starfleet officer discovers that he has unwittingly contaminated a comparatively primitive alien civilization, and assisted Federation civilians in contaminating said civilization.

In DitD, the answer to three is implied to be "there is none," inasmuch as Kirk seems happy to broker an economic cooperation agreement and non-aggression pact between the colonists and the Horta, without concerning himself overly with the inevitable cultural contamination of his and others' actions.

Also, would Picard have kicked all the colonists off the planet while invoking the Trail of Tears, or what?

 

[seigezunt]

Janus VI. In!

 

[Myasishchev]

Is it Janus VI? Well, that changes everything.

 

[UssGlenn]

It appears in TOS the prime directive only applies to civilizations that are not aware of life beyond their planet. once anybody makes them aware all bets are off. In TDITD the Horta was made aware by the presence of the miners thus negating any prime directive considerations.

 

[Timo]

The PD doesn't, as I understand it, apply to Fed civilians (which always seemed to me like a very odd exception).

What we really know is only that it explicitly didn't apply to the survivors of the non-starship Odin in "Angel One". Those poor castaways might have been covered by Sub-clause 286b in the second-to-last Miscellany paragraph in the Exceptions chapter of the PD.

Generally, the situation probably wouldn't arise where civilians are the first to encounter a new culture. More probably, one would have to consider situations where Starfleet has already scouted out a civilization and then declared it off limits, and civilians choose to disagree. For all we know, the PD does cover those situations, and features hefty sanctions for civilians who defy a quarantine order. And castaways in lifepods of non-Starfleet wrecks may be an exception to that.

3)What the proper procedure is, when a Starfleet officer discovers that he has unwittingly contaminated a comparatively primitive alien civilization, and assisted Federation civilians in contaminating said civilization.

If the intent of the PD is to protect alien cultures, then Kirk might be in trouble in this respect. If the intent of the PD is to protect the UFP by providing it with an optimally uncontaminated supply of freshly thinking societies for later assimilation, though, then the Horta "culture", not all that valuable to the UFP in the free-thinker sense, wouldn't be trouble. The question would then become solely one of "physical" damage inflicted on the Horta or the miners by Kirk - and he's probably on the clear in the latter respect, as Starfleet always seems to be able to effect draconian rule over UFP civilians.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Captain Robert April]

Under the terms of the Prime Directive, had the Horta not agreed to sharing the planet, and its resources, with the colonists, then the Federation would have been duty bound to remove the colony, at least until a proper mining treaty had been ratified. Fortunately, the Horta was more accommodating and no lawyers needed to be called in.

 

[Myasishchev]

Lawyers are always necessary. Whom do you think drafted the agreement?

What we really know is only that it explicitly didn't apply to the survivors of the non-starship Odin in "Angel One". Those poor castaways might have been covered by Sub-clause 286b in the second-to-last Miscellany paragraph in the Exceptions chapter of the PD.

MA was unclear on this point (or merely wrong). : / I'm not going to go back and watch "Angel One" to find out though.

I just think it's weird--it's absolutely bad for some guy to leave a book about gangsters resulting in a bunch of troglodytes decide it's a basis for a society, but it's okay to broker an agreement between an advanced, warp-capable people backed by a fleet of starships, and silicon-based quasi-primitives. Was it just the case that the Horta queen had seen so much, and understood enough of it, that a momentous change in the Horta civilization was a fait accompli, about which Kirk could do nothing (short of blasting the Horta queen and perhaps her entire colony)?

 

[Kegg]

I just think it's weird--it's absolutely bad for some guy to leave a book about gangsters resulting in a bunch of troglodytes decide it's a basis for a society, but it's okay to broker an agreement between an advanced, warp-capable people backed by a fleet of starships, and silicon-based quasi-primitives.

Hey, remember how "A Piece of the Action" ended? That's right, with Kirk, er, bartering a deal with the various mob bosses with an eye to the titular dough.

The damage - human inhabiting the planet and interacting with the Horta, or simply leaving a book - has already been done. What matters now is tying it up as nicely as possible, which either means Bill Shatner delivering 1930s tough guy talk or Leonard Nimoy groking the pain of stone.

Peace. (Literally.)

 

[Timo]

MA was unclear on this point (or merely wrong). : / I'm not going to go back and watch "Angel One" to find out though.

The sadist in me is ready with quotes:

Ramsey: "You can't force us to go."
Data: "Mister Ramsey is correct, Counsellor. The Odin was not a starship, which means her crew is not bound by the Prime Directive. If he and the others wish to stay here, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it."

And later on, when Ramsey's posse refuses to leave, even on pain of death:

Data: "Excuse me, Commander, but removing any of these people [Ramsey's castaways or the natives who associate with them] against their will would be a violation of several Starfleet regulations, not the least of which would be the Prime Directive."

The latter part is clear: the PD, as it applies to Riker, prohibits him from extracting the castaways. The former part is less clear: apparently, the fact that the PD doesn't tie Ramsey's hands like it would tie those of a true starship castaway somehow means that Ramsey gains the right to stay.

In any case, the issue never is whether Ramsey's posse can interfere with Angel I. It is whether Riker can force Ramsey's people to leave Angel I.

That's probably only logical. Once a group of people settles on a planet and "goes native", they basically gain the status of indigenous people. The PD protects Ramsey like it would protect any other subject of Mistress Beata - even if Ramsey happens to be the fugitive sort of subject.

What would be less logical is if all people from non-starships were free from all aspects of the PD (or equivalent civilian legislation if we assume PD is a Starfleet rule only - although I'd prefer to argue that the PD is a civilian UFP law that ties the hands of the UFP Council and not just Starfleet, and Starfleet merely has General Order 1 which says Starfleet has to obey said civilian law).

But we could argue that Data cuts to the chase, and merely establishes that Ramsey enjoys a specific loophole that has the specific consequence of allowing him to stay. Data does have this annoying tendency to serve as the devil's advocate, with brutal honesty, where a more cunning Starfleeter would quote general principles and try to deny Ramsey his specific rights that may not be obvious to either him or to the Starfleeters.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Captain Robert April]

That sounds overly restrictive, especially if we're talking about a Federation starship dealing with Federation citizens.

But then, we wouldn't have much of an episode if all they had to do is beam everyone up and be done with it. Certainly didn't seem to be slowing down Kirk in dealing with the colonists on Omicron Ceti III. If those spores hadn't gotten on board, the whole thing would've been wrapped up by the first half hour.

 

[Shatinator]

The PD doesn't, as I understand it, apply to Fed civilians (which always seemed to me like a very odd exception).

What we really know is only that it explicitly didn't apply to the survivors of the non-starship Odin in "Angel One". Those poor castaways might have been covered by Sub-clause 286b in the second-to-last Miscellany paragraph in the Exceptions chapter of the PD.

Generally, the situation probably wouldn't arise where civilians are the first to encounter a new culture. More probably, one would have to consider situations where Starfleet has already scouted out a civilization and then declared it off limits, and civilians choose to disagree. For all we know, the PD does cover those situations, and features hefty sanctions for civilians who defy a quarantine order. And castaways in lifepods of non-Starfleet wrecks may be an exception to that.

3)What the proper procedure is, when a Starfleet officer discovers that he has unwittingly contaminated a comparatively primitive alien civilization, and assisted Federation civilians in contaminating said civilization.

If the intent of the PD is to protect alien cultures, then Kirk might be in trouble in this respect. If the intent of the PD is to protect the UFP by providing it with an optimally uncontaminated supply of freshly thinking societies for later assimilation, though, then the Horta "culture", not all that valuable to the UFP in the free-thinker sense, wouldn't be trouble. The question would then become solely one of "physical" damage inflicted on the Horta or the miners by Kirk - and he's probably on the clear in the latter respect, as Starfleet always seems to be able to effect draconian rule over UFP civilians.

Timo Saloniemi

What a way to turn the conversation on its head, of the ever present Dytopian UFP

 

[The Castellan]

Am I the only one who never liked the Prime Directive?
"Hey, instead of letting these people know the truth, let's leave them in ignorent bliss!"

Never liked that.