"prime directive" [...] cite as if it's a law of physics.
Actually, it is. Attend Me Here, Class:
Free will isn't really "free." Yet it is freely given. It is a great and grand gift, as has been discussed on many occasions. I'm not going into that here.
(This is exciting though, isn't it? This isn't like the first day of school--I didn't bring any syllabi--but, close enough.)
The mechanism by which will becomes "free" is unimportant for the purposes of this discussion, but it is enough to say that an individual's choice to pursue any particular action, word choice, thought, or thought-form, is the initial spark that activates the engine of Creation, at whichever level the individual happens to be focusing attention on. For all practical and metaphysical purposes, it is always the First Action that begins the chain of whatever result or effect is to be generated. Before one reaches for an apple instead of an orange, one has already made the choice--at least, so it would appear. But here on Earth (ha!), where we all of us have been given the great gift of the illusion of free will... er, I mean, the great illusion of the gift of free will, it is that way. More or less.
(We don't have to get into the weeds here. Hi, I'm Jack, and I'm a (CLASSIFIED). Shut up and read, thanks.)
And so in a world like this one, which at its foundation is a world based on relationships, both between individuals and between each and every other particle in the whole of the Universe, Free Will is a big deal. It's huge. Is it yuge? Well, that's up to you--I see it that way, the President sees it that way, and we're gonna see it that way, deal with it.
Yuge. Everything that we see around us was once the spark of a free will choice, that lead on, and on, and on, in all of its... yeah, you get the idea. Sorry, I'm a little saucy this morning, I got Activated while reading the news while on the crapper--hello, LBJ--and now I have six more things to do before breakfast.
Even things that do not appear to be the result of an individual's choice, still begin with that first bright spark. It's in everything. I'm not getting into that part right now--not really my area, for example, how rocks talk and crystals sing, although that is some fascinating shit, let me tell you--but there is no thing in any of our experiences in this world that doesn't hinge, simply and spectacularly, on Free Choice. That's it. It's always there, right at the start. (Hi God, ty!)
Consequently, interfering with that can have significant consequences. I thought of some great examples, but look at me here--I am already showing off way, way too much. I haven't even had any cough syrup yet this morning. I might tip my hand. That simply wouldn't do, not today of all days. So think about it on your own, Class, consider the difference between, say, choosing to have a surprise party, and choosing to not have a surprise party, and then realize that if one were to choose to have one, it could not be a surprise--or could it? Yeah, and that's just an example involving
partying. Things can get real messy, real quick, and it has been found that by simply respecting that initial free will spark of choice, lots of potential problems are neatly evaded.
This is not a problem for any divinely ordained being--God, for example, I won't use Myself here--as that kind of thing can be fixed in post pretty easily.
*snap* However, in the context of the "Star Trek Universe" (hey did you hear about how I got halfway beamed out of my body once? It was cool), they're humans on spaceboats running around fiddle-fuckin' around on primitive worlds, so the avoidance of severe complications is a greatly desired discipline when the ability to compensate for unexpected complications is severely limited. It wouldn't be the same show if it Bones was all, "I'm a doctor, not a divinely ordained being... oh, wait. Now, I AM THAT I AM." Spock would lose his fuckin'
mind.
Now, I don't know what Duke meant, all those years ago, when he said that the Prime Directive was not a law of physics, but he's a (REDACTED), not a divinely ordained glowfag. In the context of what we know of as "physics" here on the surface of the rocky world, Punylings mean
physics when they think of "physics." Nevertheless, physics can get pretty broad. (Physicists can get pretty broads too, don't let anyone ever tell you anything different. oxox) Nevertheless, respecting the base level of how Creation operates here involves asking consent, even for such basic things as walking an old lady across the street, transplanting flowers, and replacing a keystone.
I bet most of you have never talked to a bag of rocks, have you? Well, I have, and that's no way to refer to that sweet old lady. I bet I'd like to replace her keystone later, if you know what I mean--and you know what? I WILL ASK.
Nevertheless, she might take a little persuading. Now, there's a line between okay and not okay on that whole "persuading" thing, right? Bam, right there, right there: that's the Prime Directive.
AND IT IS THE LAW.
