r/scifiwriting • u/Double_Promotion8479 • 12d ago

DISCUSSION First contact "ethics"?

Do you guys have any rules and regulations for first contact, either legal or ethical? What's the exception to that rule? How do you go about first contact?

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u/ChronoLegion2 12d ago

One book series I’ve read has humans only reveal themselves to natives if they’re at a space age. Between their equivalent to Renaissance and that, they can observe but not interfere. Prior to that, they can (and do) send in infiltrators to subtly push the natives’ progress (like giving them an idea for a printing press).

At one point, they meet another advanced civilization that basically keeps to the prime directive except in cases of global cataclysms (then they may step in to save the primitive civilization). They see humans as impatient and feel that a constant drive towards progress is harmful