Hmm, where to start.
First of all, uniting Earth. Not as easy as it sounds. Many cultures right here on our little blue orb are just as "primitive" and some are even more barbaric than many of the cultures we've encountered out there. Many of those cultures have value systems that are diametrically opposed to a constitutionally based federation (I'm thinking not only of Islamic middle-eastern countries here but also Communist Asia, much of South America and even, to a lesser degree, Socialist European countries).
In order to form a federation you have to have sufficient common ground. Earth has failed thus far to find it (don't even get me started on the travesty of the UN), and I doubt that the revelation of interplanetary travel and the existence of alien life would change that much.
You've got to remember that the United States is a special case. Its founders and early colonists were like-minded people from a similar cultural background working towards a common goal. They had the same values system (there were relatively small differences of opinion but on most matters of importance they were in complete agreement). It's true that America later became a "Melting Pot," accepting immigrants from many diverse countries and backgrounds, but these were largely disenfranchised people who individually made the choice to come to America and accept its culture and values system.
Similarly the EU is a federation of very like-minded cultures and countries. We're talking about a pattern far different in principle and practise from Imperialism. You can't just impose the Western culture, values, and system of government on unwilling subjects. Well, you can, but it's immoral and it doesn't work in the long run. Sure, you can (and I believe ought to) offer them as an example, and give aid in putting them into practise if invited to do so.
The problem of diversity and cultural differences can also be expanded to the interplanetary level. In fact the cultural divide is likely to be even more extreme since you're talking about not only thousands of years of independent cultural evolution on lines that are bound to be far different from our own (meaning, mainly "Western Civilization" as it's called) but alien races as well, species who not only do not share our culture and values, but may not even think like we do, right down to a neurological level. It would take hundreds of years, if ever, for such a federation to develop. I think the best we could hope for would be a strong treaty-based alliance of independent worlds, rather than an actual interplanetary government. In fact I think that such an alliance is ultimately preferable.
Next, the sharing of technology. We've seen with the Tollan, the Nox, Ancients, and other races an unwillingness to share potentially dangerous technology with less advanced neighbors. We've even seen the potential consequences ourselves with sharing our own tech with other cultures ("The Other Side"). While I'm pretty much rabidly opposed to such nonsense as the Star Trek "Prime Directive" (in fact, in practice I think such a policy of absolute non-interference is extremely immoral, and incidentally rather impractical), I do think we would be justified in withholding information or technology that we considered potentially dangerous either to ourselves or to others, both to other nations here on Earth, and elsewhere in the galaxy. For example, nuclear power could benefit millions in 3rd world countries here on earth. But the US isn't about to hand out nuclear reactors as humanitarian aid, because the likelihood is extremely high that they would be used by some governments to develop nuclear weapons with which to attack each other and us. OTOH I'm opposed to the US interfering with the independent development of such technologies without significant reason to believe they pose a serious threat to our own safety.
As regards colonization, I'm in favor of Earth colonizing uninhabited worlds, and see no problem with "population growth," which I see as a false dilemma to begin with. I'm more cautious about colonizing populated worlds. Most of the worlds we've seen are considerably less developed than ours, and I think it's likely that where we go, we would overwhelm whatever existing cultures there were, much as, unfortunately, the American colonists overwhelmed and nearly exterminated the indigenous peoples of this continent. I'm not totally opposed to colonies on Allies' worlds if we're invited, but we'd need to exercise caution wherever a geat disparity of power existed, to make sure it wasn't misused. Of course, that would be equally true in reverse, were we to set up a colony on a world more advanced than ours.
Given what I've already said about conflicting cultures, opposing interests, the dangers of sharing space travel and other gate-related technology even with other countries on our own planet, it's likely that even after the Stargate goes public, offworld exploration, colonization, etc. will still be largely controlled by the US. Maybe some people feel bad about that. I don't, really. Partly because I'm American. Call it arrogance, call it national pride or patriotism if you're feeling more charitable. I think that the Stargate is in the best possible hands where it is. That's where the chips fell. Until things on Earth change significantly, that's where they should stay. In the meantime, let us share as much as we can and will with our allies.
First of all, uniting Earth. Not as easy as it sounds. Many cultures right here on our little blue orb are just as "primitive" and some are even more barbaric than many of the cultures we've encountered out there. Many of those cultures have value systems that are diametrically opposed to a constitutionally based federation (I'm thinking not only of Islamic middle-eastern countries here but also Communist Asia, much of South America and even, to a lesser degree, Socialist European countries).
In order to form a federation you have to have sufficient common ground. Earth has failed thus far to find it (don't even get me started on the travesty of the UN), and I doubt that the revelation of interplanetary travel and the existence of alien life would change that much.
You've got to remember that the United States is a special case. Its founders and early colonists were like-minded people from a similar cultural background working towards a common goal. They had the same values system (there were relatively small differences of opinion but on most matters of importance they were in complete agreement). It's true that America later became a "Melting Pot," accepting immigrants from many diverse countries and backgrounds, but these were largely disenfranchised people who individually made the choice to come to America and accept its culture and values system.
Similarly the EU is a federation of very like-minded cultures and countries. We're talking about a pattern far different in principle and practise from Imperialism. You can't just impose the Western culture, values, and system of government on unwilling subjects. Well, you can, but it's immoral and it doesn't work in the long run. Sure, you can (and I believe ought to) offer them as an example, and give aid in putting them into practise if invited to do so.
The problem of diversity and cultural differences can also be expanded to the interplanetary level. In fact the cultural divide is likely to be even more extreme since you're talking about not only thousands of years of independent cultural evolution on lines that are bound to be far different from our own (meaning, mainly "Western Civilization" as it's called) but alien races as well, species who not only do not share our culture and values, but may not even think like we do, right down to a neurological level. It would take hundreds of years, if ever, for such a federation to develop. I think the best we could hope for would be a strong treaty-based alliance of independent worlds, rather than an actual interplanetary government. In fact I think that such an alliance is ultimately preferable.
Next, the sharing of technology. We've seen with the Tollan, the Nox, Ancients, and other races an unwillingness to share potentially dangerous technology with less advanced neighbors. We've even seen the potential consequences ourselves with sharing our own tech with other cultures ("The Other Side"). While I'm pretty much rabidly opposed to such nonsense as the Star Trek "Prime Directive" (in fact, in practice I think such a policy of absolute non-interference is extremely immoral, and incidentally rather impractical), I do think we would be justified in withholding information or technology that we considered potentially dangerous either to ourselves or to others, both to other nations here on Earth, and elsewhere in the galaxy. For example, nuclear power could benefit millions in 3rd world countries here on earth. But the US isn't about to hand out nuclear reactors as humanitarian aid, because the likelihood is extremely high that they would be used by some governments to develop nuclear weapons with which to attack each other and us. OTOH I'm opposed to the US interfering with the independent development of such technologies without significant reason to believe they pose a serious threat to our own safety.
As regards colonization, I'm in favor of Earth colonizing uninhabited worlds, and see no problem with "population growth," which I see as a false dilemma to begin with. I'm more cautious about colonizing populated worlds. Most of the worlds we've seen are considerably less developed than ours, and I think it's likely that where we go, we would overwhelm whatever existing cultures there were, much as, unfortunately, the American colonists overwhelmed and nearly exterminated the indigenous peoples of this continent. I'm not totally opposed to colonies on Allies' worlds if we're invited, but we'd need to exercise caution wherever a geat disparity of power existed, to make sure it wasn't misused. Of course, that would be equally true in reverse, were we to set up a colony on a world more advanced than ours.
Given what I've already said about conflicting cultures, opposing interests, the dangers of sharing space travel and other gate-related technology even with other countries on our own planet, it's likely that even after the Stargate goes public, offworld exploration, colonization, etc. will still be largely controlled by the US. Maybe some people feel bad about that. I don't, really. Partly because I'm American. Call it arrogance, call it national pride or patriotism if you're feeling more charitable. I think that the Stargate is in the best possible hands where it is. That's where the chips fell. Until things on Earth change significantly, that's where they should stay. In the meantime, let us share as much as we can and will with our allies.
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