Last nights episode dealt with the moral dilemma of intervening and saving
the population of a planet that is suffering from a genetic plague.
On this planet, there were two indigenous humanoid races peacefully
coexisting. The advanced race was the one dieing off from the genetic
plague.
Of course the doctor found a cure for the plague, but encourage Captain
Archer to not interfere with their evolutionary development by giving them
the cure. His analogy was what if an advanced race interfered and stopped
the Neanderthals from dying off. Naturally Archer starts whining about the
beginnings of some sort of directive to guide him in these situations.
Ultimately, he decided not to give them the cure but instead gave them
medication to delay the worst part of the disease for up to 10 years.
So here is my point, Prime Directive or not, doesn't it seem like the humane
thing to give a cure and save an advanced race? It seems to me that
withholding the cure in this case would be an almost criminal act. These
people were advanced enough to have local space travel and were kind to the
less advanced race that shared the planet with them.
I could see not giving them advanced weapons or technology that would tip
the balance, but surly a cure for a planetary plague would not be the same??
Gary
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Gary L. Nunn
Delaware Ohio
"...speak your mind - even if your voice shakes..."
- Maggie Kuhn
