Is my geek showing?

There is an interesting entry on George Dvorsky's blog, Sentient Development, entitled, "Star Trek's Prime Directive is Stupid".

Selected quotes:

"The PD [Prime Directive] is a science fictional projection of the naturalistic fallacy and injunctions against playing God. It's also a disturbing application of social Darwinism."

"In the Star Trek universe it is assumed that only Darwinian processes can enable a civilization to reach an advanced stage. It is likely that this is believed because of previous failures and a misguided reverence for evolutionary processes. Instead of giving up on uplift and helping a civilization integrate into advanced society, the Federation should keep trying to find an effective strategy. Leaving a primitive culture to their own devices could lead to their destruction -- a result that is quite obviously far worse than awkward socialization.

While the ethics of obligations is a very tricky thing, it is often through our inaction that we cause the most harm. Injunctions against playing God begs the question: if we don't play God, who will?"

Indeed. From the viewpoint of a Jesus follower (and former Trekkie), I'd say, "If we don't reflect God, who will?" It has been shown and documented over and over that when a society embraces Christianity (such as, for example, a Third World village), there is a dramatic uplift in the quality of living. The Gospel brings so much more than a promise of eternal life. It brings social justice. It brings restoration. It brings healing and hope.

Make it so.