Essay Sample on Mill's Challenge: Colonization, Intervention, and the Star Trek Prime Directive

Mill has a great theory that gives directives on the criterion to be followed when deciding when a nation should or should not intervene in international issues. In answering the colonial question which sought to justify or prohibit colonization of less developed nations, Mill supported and justified colonization. Mill thought that it was very important for the British to colonize less developed and alien states. This colonization would help the nations develop through superior technology, scientific knowledge, and cultural practices. Mill proposed that colonization was the only right way through which civilization could be passed from technologically advanced nations to less developed and primitive nations

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Star Trek's Prime Directive prohibits less developed states' interference regardless of the benefits the less developed states would get. This directive prohibits any form of colonization of developing nations by technologically advanced nations. According to this directive, nations that do not meet certain thresholds in technological advancement and scientific development are to be left to develop at their phase. The ban on developed nations imposing their technology on uncivilized nations was based on the fact that in transferring the technology, the uncivilized states' moral values and cultural practices would also be corrupted. This transfer also interferes with the very critical normal development of the uncivilized nations. According to the directive, all nations are supposed to develop at their phase without any external interference by developed states. The culture's people are very sacred, and no interference should be made to its development and evolution.

Mill thought that Star Trek's Prime Directive was meaningless and did not have people's interest in uncivilized nations at heart. According to Mill, uncivilized nations required technology and scientific advancements to be transferred to them through interaction with the developed nations (Viner 368). Therefore, any prohibition on this interaction would mean that the alien nations would remain in their cultural backwardness and technological retardation for the longest time ever.

According to Mill, the directive would have been developed with the aim of ensuring things remain as they are. Mill could have thought that the directive authors were likely to be highly resistant to change and were afraid that the change may cause undesired and destructive results. This resistance to change could have been adopted to ensure that the alien nations remained in their underdevelopment states (Booker 200).

Mill would also reject the advancements of this directive. Mill's rejection of this directive's suggestion would primarily be caused by the fact that he does not agree with it. The directive prohibits any possible chances of colonization, meaning that there would be no form of scientific and technological transfer between the developed nations and the less civilized nations. On the other hand, Mill advocates for the colonization of less civilized nations to transfer technological and scientific knowledge. These varying and contrary stands would make Mill be against this directive (Viner 369).

Star Trek's Prime Directive was designed by selfish people who did not need the less civilized nations to advance. All nations should work together to ensure the progressiveness of one another. When less civilized nations achieve scientific, cultural, and technological advancement, they are likely to develop into independent nations that do not require resource assistance from other nations. Mill would think that this directive was designed with the main idea of ensuring that the less civilized nations remain in their backwardness as all the developed nations would face the prohibition from assisting the less civilized nations (Urmson 35).

Mill's idea would be that the perpetual and continued gap in the disparity between the developed and uncivilized nations would not be reduced at any point in time due to the lack of technological exchange resulting from this particular directive (Booker 200). This is because technological advancement by uncivilized nations has the potential of increasing the nations' productivity levels hence helping reduce the disparity between the developed and less civilized nations.

The thought of challenging this directive has the possibility of sprouting in the mind of Mill. The fact that his thoughts and approaches are very different from this directive's suggestions means that he could challenge the directive's validity either in general writing or the court of law. Mill would want permission to transfer technology through colonization of less civilized societies to be granted and supported (Mill 10).

Following his stand, Mill would think that this directive serves to violate people's basic needs and freedoms in the alien and less advanced nations. He would propose that all human beings are entitled to exposure to new ideas, technology, knowledge, and modern cultural practices. Everyone should not be denied this entitlement as it has the potential to make their lives better. Because this directive does not promote this transfer, Mill would term it an illegal directive that does not want people in uncivilized nations to be more advanced in their scientific and technological knowledge, resulting in improving their lives.

In his thoughts concerning the directive, the directive prevents the possible chances of technological and scientific knowledge transfer between the advanced nations and the less civilized nations. Interactions between these different classifications of nations would facilitate technological transfer to the alien nations. This could be possible through the colonization of alien nations by advanced nations. This can be backed up by the increased technological advancements, which are being seen in former colonies. Suppose the colonies were allowed to operate by themselves without any external interference or help. In that case, it is very clear they could not be at their current level of scientific, cultural, and technological advancements (Booker 201).

Nations that were colonized in the early years are seen to behave developed like their colonizers. A good example is America, which has achieved high technological advancements that can be directly linked to the nation's colonization time. All these developments could not have been possible if there had been no interaction between the colonies and the colonizers. All nations that resisted colonization remain lag behind in technological, scientific, and cultural progress, which negatively affects citizens' lives (Viner 368).

Mill is also right in pronouncing this prohibition as a violation of basic human rights and entitlements. Every person across the globe has the right to access information and be exposed to modernity. Prohibition of any possible interaction between individuals from developed nations with alien nations retards technological and scientific transfer. This interaction is to be promoted if the right and freedom to information and knowledge are adhered to (Urmson 36).

Modern technology and scientific knowledge have caused many benefits that can be seen and felt by all human beings across the globe (Booker 195). These benefits include improved health care by discovering new medicines and discovering advanced medical equipment. Like defense levels, other factors have also been advanced through the development of modern and sophisticated fighting equipment. All these strides have contributed to the improvement of human lives by improving people's living standards. Mill is, therefore right in terming this prohibition as an indirect means of ensuring people remain poor and disenfranchised.

Mill's philosophical approach to promoting colonization is very sound and right. By disagreeing with the directive which does not promote colonization, he is right because colonization has more positive results than negative results. All the alien nations require colonization by advanced nations to complete resources, knowledge, technology, and scientific know-how. Therefore, any directive that any nation does not promote should not be accepted across the globe (Viner 368).

As many people and scholars have advocated, change is quite inevitable. No nation, organization, or individual can resist change. Everyone has to embrace change and adjust their activities to accommodate the change. Anyone who fights change does not promote modernity or the advancement of human life. Mill is, therefore, right to go against this directive, which does not promote change but rather advocates for people to remain as they are. Resistance to change means that human life will remain low standards (Booker 200).

The thought of fighting for the lifting of the ban on colonization would be very sound if Mill went for it. A successful fight against this prohibition would mean that people's rights in less civilized nations are accorded. Lifting this prohibition would also mean that there would be free movement of technology, resources, and scientific knowledge to the alien nations. Cultural integration is also promoted through interaction between advanced nations and alien nations. This would mean that cultural practices that were not desirable would be eliminated, and a beneficial culture would be adopted.

Works Cited

Booker, Keith. "The Politics of Star Trek." The essential science fiction television reader (2008): 195-208.

Mill, John Stuart. JS Mill:' On Liberty' and Other Writings. Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Urmson, James O. "The interpretation of the moral philosophy of JS Mill." The Philosophical Quarterly (1950-) 3.10 (1953): 33-39.

Viner, Jacob. "Bentham and JS Mill: The utilitarian background." The American economic review 39.2 (1949): 360-382.