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58-567: The Prime Directive is one of many guidelines for Starfleet 's mandate to explore the galaxy and "seek out new life and new civilizations." Although the concept of the Prime Directive has been alluded to and paraphrased by many Star Trek characters during the television series and feature films, the text of the directive was only revealed to viewers in 2021 during the Star Trek: Prodigy episode "First Con-Tact" set in 2383. Two sections of

116-606: A Bajoran aboard the USS Enterprise -D ; her fellow Bajoran Kira Nerys , who was field-commissioned as a Starfleet commander so that she could aid the Cardassian resistance during the Dominion War ; and Ferengi Nog , who enters Starfleet Academy in season four of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ; all were from non-member planets. In addition, Quinn and Icheb from Star Trek: Voyager both spoke of joining Starfleet. An example of

174-534: A Federation objective, to save the lives of the crew, or to better the lives of the inhabitants. Out-of-universe criticisms focus on the above problems; that the Prime Directive is simply a plot device and is manipulated by the writers. Janet D. Stemwedel points out a potential conflict between the anti-colonialist intentions of the Federation and the "ethical project of sharing a universe" which would require "a kind of reciprocity — even if your technological attainment

232-654: A JAG court-martial. Courts-martial were held following the loss of the USS Pegasus and USS Stargazer . In the Voyager episode " Parallax ", Tuvok states that the Captain has the authority to conduct a court-martial on the ship, given the circumstance of the ship being isolated from the Federation. Starfleet Medical is the medical branch of Starfleet. Gates McFadden , who played Dr. Beverly Crusher , left Star Trek: The Next Generation during its second season. The character

290-739: A decades-long history by 1966. The Prime Directive has been criticized in-universe because of the inconsistencies in which it is applied. In the TOS episodes " Friday's Child ," " For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky ," " The Cloud Minders ," " The Apple ," " The Return of the Archons ," " Space Seed " and " A Taste of Armageddon ," the crew of the Enterprise either interferes with laws or customs of alien worlds or outright colonizes an alien planet to achieve

348-471: A link to the original source. After being purchased by Condé Nast, Ars Technica began publishing more original news, investigating topics, and interviewing sources themselves. A significant portion of the news articles published there now are original. Relayed news is still published on the website, ranging from one or two sentences to a few paragraphs. Ars Technica ' s features are long articles that go into great depth on their subject. For example,

406-686: A new Federation member world's military is depicted when the Bajoran Militia is integrated into Starfleet upon Bajor's entry into the Federation. The Starfleet insignia have been inspired by the chevron , which is broadly used in aeronautics, and particularly by the insignia of NASA . Ars Technica Ars Technica is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software , science, technology policy , and video games. Ars Technica

464-446: A paid subscription service since 2001. Ken Fisher, who serves as the website's current editor-in-chief , and Jon Stokes created Ars Technica in 1998. Its purpose was to publish computer hardware and software-related news articles and guides; in their words, "the best multi- OS , PC hardware, and tech coverage possible while ... having fun, being productive, and being as informative and as accurate as possible". "Ars technica"

522-519: A possible Temporal Prime Directive: "Of course, you know of the Prime Directive, which tells us that we have no right to interfere with the natural evolution of alien worlds. Now I have sworn to uphold it, but nevertheless I have disregarded that directive on more than one occasion because I thought it was the right thing to do. Now, if you are holding on to some temporal equivalent of that directive, then isn't it possible that you have an occasion here to make an exception, to help me to choose, because it's

580-507: A postdoc at Memorial Sloan Kettering . The cost of operating Ars Technica has always been funded primarily by advertising. Originally handled by Federated Media Publishing, selling advertising space on the website is now managed by Condé Nast. In addition to online advertising, Ars Technica has sold subscriptions to the website since 2001, now named Ars Pro and Ars Pro++ subscriptions (previously known as Ars Premier). Subscribers are not shown advertisements, and receive benefits including

638-520: A result of these successes, Starfleet engineers gained a reputation as the undisputed masters of technological adaptation and modification. As one minion of the Dominion in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode, " Rocks and Shoals " notes, Starfleet engineers are reputed to be able to "Turn rocks into replicators." Additionally, Pocket Books has published a series of eBooks and novels in

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696-685: A shipyard named Utopia Planitia in Mars orbit. Utopia Planitia served as Starfleet's main ship yards throughout a large portion of Starfleet's existence. After the Enterprise-D encountered the Borg in the episode " Q Who " the size of the Utopia Planitia shipyards was doubled out of fear of a Borg strike. They were once again doubled after the Dominion threat became more evident. A devastating attack on these shipyards

754-589: Is Deep Space Nine , a station near a wormhole commanded by Benjamin Sisko after its transfer from the Cardassian Empire . Starfleet has been shown to handle scientific , defense , and diplomatic missions, although its primary mandate seems to be peaceful exploration in the search for sentient life, as seen in the mission statements of different incarnations of the USS Enterprise . The flagship of Starfleet

812-560: Is a Latin phrase that translates to "Art of Technology". The website published news, reviews, guides, and other content of interest to computer enthusiasts. Writers for Ars Technica were geographically distributed across the United States at the time; Fisher lived in his parents' house in Boston, Stokes in Chicago, and the other writers in their respective cities. On May 19, 2008, Ars Technica

870-537: Is a branch of Starfleet first introduced in the original Star Trek . Main characters in subsequent series have been security officers. Starfleet Tactical is a rarely mentioned department in Starfleet that is responsible for planning defensive strategies, as well as engaging in weapons research and development. Although Humans are the most-often-seen crew members onscreen, Starfleet is shown to be composed of individuals from over 150 species, with Vulcans perhaps being

928-620: Is a major plot point in Star Trek: Picard . In the 2009 film , the Enterprise is shown under construction near James T. Kirk 's home in Iowa. In the 2013 sequel , Montgomery "Scotty" Scott discovers a covert Starfleet facility, near Jupiter, that has built a much larger Federation warship, USS Vengeance . The Starfleet Engineering Corps (also called the Starfleet Corps of Engineers )

986-409: Is categorized by four types: news, guides, reviews, and features. News articles relay current events. Ars Technica also hosts OpenForum, a free Internet forum for the discussion of a variety of topics. Originally, most news articles published by the website were aggregated from other technology-related websites. Ars Technica provided short commentaries on the news, generally a few paragraphs, and

1044-456: Is described during this season, and after her return, as having been assigned to Starfleet Medical. Numerous star ship dedication plaques identify other personnel associated with Starfleet Operations . Rear Admiral James T. Kirk served 18 months as Starfleet's Chief of Operations. Starfleet Security is an agency of Starfleet referred to in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . Security

1102-436: Is devastating to the sites you love" was published on Ars Technica , imploring readers not to use the software on websites they care about: ... blocking ads can be devastating to the sites you love. I am not making an argument that blocking ads is a form of stealing, or is immoral, or unethical ... It can result in people losing their jobs, it can result in less content on any given site, and it definitely can affect

1160-482: Is if said society has already been exposed to the concepts listed herein. However, in that instance, section 2 applies. Section 2: If said species has achieved the commensurate level of technological and/or societal development as described in Appendix 1, or has been exposed to the concepts listed in section 1, no Starfleet crew person will engage with said society or species without first gathering extensive information on

1218-792: Is mentioned in several episodes in conjunction with projects such as hollowing out the underground laboratory complex inside the Regula I asteroid in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , the design of the Yellowstone -class Runabout in the alternate timeline in the Star Trek: Voyager episode " Non Sequitur ", and devising a defense against the Breen energy-dampening weapon in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " When It Rains... " As

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1276-550: Is not a necessary pre-condition for joining Starfleet. T'Pol of Vulcan is shown to be the first non-human Starfleet officer, receiving a commission as a commander following the Xindi mission and her resignation from the Vulcan High Command. Even after the Federation's formation citizenship was not required; several officers are from planets that are not part of the Federation. For example, Star Trek: TNG ' s Ensign Ro Laren ,

1334-408: Is often considered to be the starship USS Enterprise . Starfleet has many components, including: As early as the original Star Trek , characters refer to attending Starfleet Academy . Later series establish it as an officer training facility with a four-year educational program. The main campus is located near Starfleet Headquarters in what is now Fort Baker , California. Starfleet Command

1392-403: Is quite different, it means recognizing you are owed the same moral consideration." Stemwedel writes, "If your concern is not to change the natural behavior or development of alien citizens at any cost, your best bet is to stay at home rather than to explore new worlds." Ars Technica asked lawyers to comment on the Prime Directive and other Star Trek legal issues. Criticism included interpreting

1450-560: Is said to have evolved into the NX Program, which led to Starfleet launching its first Warp 5–capable starship, Enterprise (NX-01) , in 2151, followed by Columbia (NX-02), in 2155, as well as other vessels. Starfleet acts under the Prime Directive , a policy of non-interference with pre-warp worlds, such as interference in their internal politics. This is said not to be a human construct, but stems from policies originally implemented by

1508-403: Is the branch charged with overseeing legal matters within Starfleet. Several episodes revolve around or involve JAG officers and procedures: Dialog in "Court Martial" reveals that a court-martial may be convened in the absence of any JAG officers by three presiding command-level officers. Additionally, dialog in "The Measure of a Man" indicates that the loss of a starship automatically leads to

1566-726: Is the headquarters/command center of Starfleet. The term "Starfleet Command" is first used in TOS episode " Court Martial ". Its headquarters are depicted as being in Fort Baker, across the Golden Gate from San Francisco, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . Overlooking the Command from the other side of the Golden Gate is the permanent site of the Council of

1624-413: Is written in a less-formal tone than that found in a traditional journal. Many of the website's regular writers have postgraduate degrees, and many work for academic or private research institutions . Website cofounder Jon Stokes published the computer architecture textbook Inside The Machine in 2007; John Timmer performed postdoctoral research in developmental neurobiology ; Until 2013, Timothy Lee

1682-799: The Star Trek: Discovery episode "Face the Strange," the Temporal Prime Directive is still in effect in the late 32nd century. Starfleet Starfleet is a fictional organization in the Star Trek media franchise. Within this fictional universe , Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets ("the Federation") as the principal means for conducting deep space exploration, research, defense , peacekeeping , and diplomacy (although Starfleet predates

1740-420: The Starfleet Corps of Engineers series. Starfleet Intelligence is an intelligence agency of the United Federation of Planets . It is entrusted with foreign and domestic espionage, counter-espionage, and state security. In the non-canon Star Trek: New Frontier novels the series main character Mackenzie Calhoun was once a Starfleet Intelligence operative. The Starfleet Judge Advocate General (or JAG )

1798-449: The Vulcans , who regarded an alien civilization's attainment of warp speed as the reason for making first contact with them. This was to avoid any unfortunate incidences during space travel, as well as avoiding interfering in the natural development of a civilization. The Prime Directive and Starfleet's first-contact policies are at the center of several episodes in each Star Trek series and

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1856-414: The Federation, having originally been an Earth organization, as shown by the television series Star Trek: Enterprise ). While most of Starfleet's members are human and it has been headquartered on Earth, hundreds of other species are also represented. Most of the franchise's protagonists are Starfleet commissioned officers . During production of early episodes of the original series , several details of

1914-494: The Prime Directive as a product of the Cold War environment in which Roddenberry wrote, as well as indicating that enforcement would be lacking. The "Temporal Prime Directive" is a fictional guideline for time travelers (from the past or future) from interfering in the natural development of a timeline . In the TNG episode " A Matter of Time ", Picard compares the Prime Directive to

1972-469: The Prime Directive is generally credited to Original Series producer Gene L. Coon . Later writers have suggested that the Prime Directive was influenced by the Vietnam War or designed to show a civilization that had evolved beyond colonialism. This would have been consistent with Coon and Roddenberry's political outlooks, but the notion of science fictional first contact and its possible harms already had

2030-468: The UK and Europe. The UK site began with around 500,000 readers and had reached roughly 1.4 million readers a year after its launch. In September 2017, Condé Nast announced that it was significantly downsizing its Ars Technica UK arm, and laid off all but one member of its permanent editorial staff. The content of articles published by Ars Technica has generally remained the same since its creation in 1998 and

2088-730: The United Federation of Planets in what is now the Presidio of San Francisco . Throughout the Star Trek franchise, the main characters' isolation from Starfleet Command compels them to make and act upon decisions without Starfleet Command's orders or information, particularly in Voyager when the main protagonists have no means of contacting Earth for several years. StarTrek.com notes that many of Starfleet's ships are built on Mare Island near San Francisco. It states: The Enterprise-D and USS Voyager are depicted to have been constructed at

2146-607: The ability to see exclusive articles, post in certain areas of the Ars Technica forum, and participate in live chat rooms with notable people in the computer industry. To a lesser extent, revenue is also collected from content sponsorship. A series of articles about the future of collaboration was sponsored by IBM , and the site's Exploring Datacenters section is sponsored by data-management company NetApp . Ars Technica also collects revenue from affiliate marketing by advertising deals and discounts from online retailers, and from

2204-575: The commanding officer. In many instances, prominent Starfleet personnel like captains James T. Kirk , Jean-Luc Picard , Kathryn Janeway and Benjamin Sisko willingly broke the Prime Directive but faced no real punishment or consequence for doing so. However, the Prime Directive is not absolute. Starship captains have been known to violate it to protect their ships and crews, and certain Starfleet regulations such as The Omega Directive can even render it null and void in certain circumstances. Creation of

2262-667: The event. Jennifer Ouelette , the former science editor of Gizmodo, contributes science and culture coverage. Beth Mole, who has a PhD in microbiology, handles Ars ' health coverage. She was formerly at Science News. Eric Berger , formerly of the Houston Chronicle , covers space exploration. John Timmer is the science editor for Ars. He formerly taught scientific writing and science journalism at Stony Brook University and Weill Cornell Medical College. He earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his PhD from University of California, Berkeley and worked as

2320-495: The film Star Trek: First Contact . Starfleet Headquarters is shown to be located on Earth , northeast of the Golden Gate Bridge in the present-day Fort Baker area. Starfleet Academy is located in the same general area. Additionally, various episodes show Starfleet operating a series of starbases throughout Federation territory, as ground facilities, or as space stations in planetary orbit or in deep space. One example

2378-474: The makeup of the Star Trek universe had yet to be worked out, including the operating authority for the USS Enterprise . The terms Star Service (" The Conscience of the King "), Spacefleet Command (" The Squire of Gothos "), United Earth Space Probe Agency (" Charlie X " and " Tomorrow Is Yesterday "), and Space Central (" Miri ") were all used to refer to the Enterprise ' s operating authority, before

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2436-652: The most common aliens seen. Already in TOS , the USS Enterprise and other ships have a mixed-species crew, although this does not appear to be an absolute rule; for instance, the episode " The Immunity Syndrome " refers to the USS Intrepid as having an all-Vulcan crew. The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " Take Me Out to the Holosuite " also features such a crew, serving aboard the USS T'Kumbra . In keeping with this idea, Star Trek: Enterprise , in its first two seasons,

2494-583: The process imagined by the writers is given when the character Nog attempts to apply to the Academy. He is told that since he is from a non-member world (Ferenginar), he requires a letter of recommendation from a command-level officer before his application can be considered, with the implication that this is the standard procedure for all non-Federation applicants to Starfleet. In the Star Trek Expanded Universe, an example of what typically becomes of

2552-412: The production of Star Trek: Enterprise , some larger Starfleet insignia designs included the name "United Earth Space Probe Agency". Multiple Star Trek: Enterprise episodes refer to Starfleet having started operation some time between 2112 and 2136, when it funded research begun by Zefram Cochrane and Henry Archer, which led to the first successful flight of Warp-3 vessels in the 2140s. This research

2610-547: The quality of content. It can also put sites into a real advertising death spin. The block and article were controversial, generating articles on other websites about them, and the broader issue of advertising ethics. Readers of Ars Technica generally followed Fisher's persuasion; the day after his article was published, 25,000 readers who used the software had allowed the display of advertisements on Ars Technica in their browser, and 200 readers had subscribed to Ars Premier. In February 2016, Fisher noted, "That article lowered

2668-588: The right thing to do?" As 31st-century time traveler Daniels revealed to Captain Jonathan Archer in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode " Cold Front ", as time travel technology became practical, the Temporal Accords were established sometime before the 31st century, to allow the use of time travel for the purposes of studying history, while prohibiting the use of it to alter history. As revealed in

2726-416: The sale of Ars Technica -branded merchandise. On March 5, 2010, Ars Technica experimentally blocked readers who used Adblock Plus —one of several computer programs that stop advertisements from being displayed in a web browser—from viewing the website. Fisher estimated 40% of the website's readers had the software installed at the time. The next day, the block was lifted, and the article "Why Ad Blocking

2784-418: The site published a guide on CPU architecture in 1998 named "Understanding CPU caching and performance". An article in 2009 discussed in detail the theory , physics , mathematical proofs , and applications of quantum computers . The website's 18,000-word review of Apple's first iPad described everything from the product's packaging to the specific type of integrated circuits it uses. Ars Technica

2842-514: The site's writers agreed to a deal with Condé Nast because they felt it offered them the best chance to turn their "hobby" into a business. Fisher, Stokes, and the eight other writers at the time were employed by Condé Nast. Layoffs at Condé Nast in November 2008 affected websites owned by the company "across the board", including Ars Technica . On May 5, 2015, Ars Technica launched its United Kingdom site to expand its coverage of issues related to

2900-479: The specific traditions, laws, and culture of that species civilization. Then Starfleet crew will obey the following. a) If engaged with diplomatic relations with said culture, will stay within the confines of said culture's restrictions. b) No interference with the social development of said planet. The Prime Directive was frequently applied to less developed planets which had not yet discovered warp travel or subspace communication technology. The Prime Directive

2958-793: The term "Starfleet" became widespread from the episode " Court Martial " onwards. However, references to the United Earth Space Probe Agency, and its abbreviation UESPA, are to be found in episodes of later series. For example, the Friendship One probe (launched, on the fictional timeline, in 2067) is marked with the letters UESPA-1 in the Star Trek: Voyager episode " Friendship One ". Other background props included additional UESPA references, such as Captain Jean-Luc Picard 's family album in Star Trek Generations . During

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3016-465: The text were shown, and are as follows: Section 1: Starfleet crew will obey the following with any civilization that has not achieved a commensurate level of technological and/or societal development as described in Appendix 1. a) No identification of self or mission. b) No interference with the social, cultural, or technological development of said planet. c) No reference to space, other worlds, or advanced civilizations. d) The exception to this

3074-517: Was a scholar at the Cato Institute , a public-policy institute , which republished Ars Technica articles by him. Biology journal Disease Models & Mechanisms called Ars Technica a "conduit between researchers and the public" in 2008. On September 12, 2012, Ars Technica recorded its highest daily traffic ever with its iPhone 5 event coverage. It recorded 15.3 million page views, 13.2 million of which came from its live blog platform of

3132-407: Was also sometimes applied to advanced civilizations that already knew of life on other worlds but were protected by empires outside the Federation's jurisdiction. First contact could be made by the Federation with alien worlds that had either discovered warp or were on the verge of it, or with highly advanced civilizations that simply hadn't ventured into space yet. In those cases, the Prime Directive

3190-505: Was privately owned until May 2008, when it was sold to Condé Nast Digital , the online division of Condé Nast Publications. Condé Nast purchased the site, along with two others, for $ 25 million and added it to the company's Wired Digital group, which also includes Wired and, formerly, Reddit . The staff mostly works from home and has offices in Boston, Chicago, London, New York City, and San Francisco. The operations of Ars Technica are funded primarily by advertising, and it has offered

3248-449: Was sold to Condé Nast Digital, the online division of Condé Nast Publications. The sale was part of a purchase by Condé Nast Digital of three unaffiliated websites costing $ 25 million in total: Ars Technica , Webmonkey , and HotWired . Ars Technica was added to the company's Wired Digital group, which included Wired and Reddit. In an interview with The New York Times , Fisher said other companies offered to buy Ars Technica and

3306-664: Was the only show to have an entirely human crew, as it was set before the formation of the Federation , although the vessel did carry Phlox , a Denobulan serving in a medical exchange program, and T'Pol , then serving as an observer from the Vulcan High Command. Star Trek: The Next Generation saw the introduction of Starfleet's first Klingon officer. Other races—such as Bolians, Betazoids, and Trill—were seen, and given more central roles, in later series; some of these, notably Klingons, had been shown as enemies in earlier episodes. Various episodes show that Earth /Federation citizenship

3364-405: Was used as a general policy to not disrupt or interfere with their culture when establishing peaceful diplomatic relations. Consequences for violating the Prime Directive could range from a stern reprimand to a demotion, depending on the severity of the infraction. However, enforcement of these rules -- and interpretations of the Prime Directive itself -- varied greatly and were at the discretion of

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