What harm does it do for readers to assume that whats shown about the relationship of the Federation to the Younglings applies to intercultural relations on our world, as fantasy often does?
If the story is interpreted that way, it implies that some cultures presently existing on Earth are inherently more “advanced” than others, an idea once common that is frowned upon today. Technological capability is a factor in the evolution of a species as a whole; it doesn’t define the “level” of particular cultures of the same species, any more than technical training defines the evolutionary status of individuals. I have been dismayed when readers got the impression that the Service in my books takes an attitude toward Younglings similar to the patronizing way 19th-century anthropologists viewed “primitive” cultures, which modern scientists recognize as mistaken. Also, I don’t want it thought that I’m saying we shouldn’t help the people of pre-industrial cultures obtain technology (a view that involves an additional false analogy because the cultures of a single world, unlike those of different worlds, are aware of each other’s existence). In this respect, portraying the three spec
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