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"[Science fiction is] anything that turns you and your social context, the social you, inside out."
- Gregory Benford
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| Prime Directive | ||
| The first and most important rule; usually protective. |
This is (as far as I know) the earliest use of the phrase. It doesn't quite have the full meaning that it later acquired.
| But that is impossible under the Prime Directive... Our function is to serve and obey, and guard men from harm. It is no longer necessary for men to care for themselves, because we exist to insure their safety and happiness. |
| Technovelgy from With Folded Hands,
by Jack Williamson. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1947 Additional resources -
|
By 1966, the usage had expanded. From a 1966 script for the Star Trek episode Return of the Archons:
As far as the concept of the Prime Directive is concerned, the reader may wish to compare this entry to the Noninterference With Other Worlds from In the Deep of Time (1879) by George Parsons Lathrop, Relations with Extraterrestrial Life from Ogre (1944) by Clifford Simak, to the Law of Contact from Orphans of the Void (1952) by Orville Shaara and the Alien Self-Government from Co-Operate or Else (1942) by A.E. van Vogt.
Kirk: Landru must die.
Spock: Our prime directive of non-interference...
Kirk: That refers to a living, growing culture. I'm not convinced that this one is."
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Tech news articles related to works by Jack Williamson
| Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth? |
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| SensorWake Scent-Based Alarm Clock |
| Ulm Sleep Pods For The Homeless |
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'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
