Star Trek – Uncommon Descent

Is Star Trek’s Prime Directive keeping us from spotting aliens?

The Prime Directive is, don’t interfere in the evolution of alien societies, even if you have good intentions. So are they making it hard for us to spot them?

Viola Lee KF, I don't think your mirror idea would resolve the issue if the picture were 0.01° short of 180°. Steve... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
Viola Lee re 25: I would congratulate you for knowing that one must know the given premises in order to draw a... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
Steve Alten2 Following from 25 Maybe using an example from another geometric shape would make my point clearer. We know that the... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
Steve Alten2 Kairosfocus “ The DM Article includes — and I did not excerpt as it was obvious enough — that “The... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
kairosfocus VL, I am noting that -- and why -- it is effectively settled that it is indeed a semicircle. KF... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
AaronS1978 Christians haven’t done as much damage to atheism as atheism has done to them and the rest of the world... – The Bee stings again: 7 ways...
Lieutenant Commander Data On topic,masterly. Jordan Peterson on Rules for Life, Psychedelics, The Bible, and Much More – Should we recognise that "laws of...
Steve Alten2 I only brought up the importance of being very clear when drafting test questions because of an experience I had... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
Viola Lee KF, I have no idea why you addressed all that to me??? Yes, we all assumed it was a semicircle.... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
jerry I am posting the transcription of the lecture on Cicero on another OP because it is extremely long. Anyone wanting... – Should we recognise that "laws of...
jerry This is placed here because some may be interested and it too long for the current thread. It is about... – Michael Ruse update: “Morality is just...
kairosfocus VL, behind a planar, front-silvered mirror lies a virtual half universe with images laterally reversed and set back the same... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
Fasteddious Note that Loeb is using ID arguments in this piece, although I'm sure he would deny it: - take a... – Avi Loeb at Scientific American on...
Fasteddious Thank you Polistra, that was great - my laugh for the day! – The “smaller game” theory of the...
Viola Lee Also, Kf's picture above shows how you transform a secant line (cutting the curve at two points) into a tangent... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
Viola Lee You're right, Steve. The problem didn't say specifically that it was a semicircle. I written lots of geometry problems, and... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
PaV If the definition of a circle is x^2 + y^2 = R^2, but the definition of a right angle, per... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
kairosfocus SA2, the physical confirmation rests on the laws of reflection, i.e. incident, reflected ray and normal to plane of reflection... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
Steve Alten2 I will definitely defer to you and Viola Lee on this. – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
kairosfocus SA2, it is both implied and visually recognisable. KF PS: The mirror test will show it instantly. PPS: Using a... – Semi-circles and right angle dilemmas ....
bornagain77 And since Intelligent Design is mathematically based on the ‘law of conservation of information’, that makes Intelligent Design, unlike Darwinian... – The Bee stings again: 7 ways...