>The Prime Directive is often mis-interprteted. To quote one of the
>books: "The Prime Directiive is not the words 'don't butt in' in mile
>high letters on the side of StarFleet HQ."
>
>It applies only to races that have no knowledge of other sentient
>races - and to a lesser degree those that do but don't have ftl tech
>yet. The object is 'don't let them know we're around until they're
>ready to deal with us'. In the comet example, a StarFleet crew could
>blow up the comet - but they couldn't go down and let the natives know
>they did it, and they'd better not be seen.
>

"The Prime Directive, Admiral, last time I checked, did not first appear on the wall of Starfleet Headquarters in flaming letters accompanied by a sepulchral voice intoning, 'Thou Shalt Not Butt In' ... The Prime Directive was created by men and women, no better or worse than any of us, and I respectfully submit that if our hands are so completely tied by it that we sit around impotently, then we have to seriously reconsider what the hell it is we're all about."
--Commander William T. Riker
Star Trek New Frontier Book One: House of Cards

Incidentally, a couple of friends and I were arguing over the concept (and validity) of the Zeroth Law of Robotics in a very similar argument. Wonder if that particular law applies to the robots of the UF universe.

----------------
Jeffrey McIntyre
"I actually liked ST: New Frontier. Wonder if I should be worried about myself..."