The gift of intelligence and technology is vital to a sapients advancement. If and when the player comes across a species that are in a lowly era than they are, it could be possible to uplift them through many various ways.
First, as said in my ‘Contact’ topic, you would have to gain access to their communication. If they are in a state of tribes, you could simply meet them by landing on the surface.
By teaching them, they would learn how to use advanced systems of technology, but not right away. They would have to slowly develop this technology, making progress as they go. You can come back every ounce in a while to see their development, talk with their leaders, and leave again.
If you visit enough times, they could possibly create a religion out of you, the player.
Though this sounds simple when written, or in this case, typed down, it will be complicated in actuality.
You would have to, and I mean have to learn their language and culture to know how they would respond to what you say. The sapient could mistake your kind words as acts of war, but they may be a tad much.
I agree up to a certain point. You can´t expect that all of this tribes or civilizations accept you that easily because you offer them technology and stuff, specially when they are a tribe; i suggest that maybe you could have different reactions among the species, but possible to earn their trust with gifts or helping them with specific actions.
Most primitive civilizations would view an Alien using “magic” (any sufficiently advanced technology will be viewed as magic by primitive societies) as a deity and avoiding this while trying to uplift them would be extremely difficult. You would not want to be viewed this way if you wish to uplift them to your level as they wouldn’t respect you once they are as strong as a god from their viewpoint.
Talking of this there was an aboriginal man whose first contact with civilisation was to witness a nuclear blast! Super crazy.
In the 1950s Nyarri Morgan was a young man, walking and hunting in South Australia’s northern deserts.
His dramatic first contact with whites came when he witnessed a nuclear bomb explosion at the British testing site at Maralinga.
“[He said] ‘then we saw the spirit had made all the kangaroos fall down on the ground as a gift to us of easy hunting so we took those kangaroos and we ate them and people were sick and then the spirit left’.”
That sort of thing also happens when I play multiplayer CIV 5!
In response to your points I think the ethics of uplift is a really interesting thing to explore. On the one hand is a primitive society much different from animals? If you’re willing to eat meat and experiment on a chimpanzee does that mean it’s ok on aliens of similar brain capacity?
On the other hand if they are clearly as intelligent as you should you give them medical tech? Think of all the suffering that could be avoided if you helped them just by wiping out a few diseases (like smallpox, polio, guinea worm etc on earth). It would be a small interference but would help them so much.
In general I am really interested in making the sort of event chains that Captain Picard would stop and ponder over.
But wouldn’t something like that possibly have a pretty adverse effect on the immune system? (since the ones with bad immune systems won’t die and end up spreading their bad-immune-system-genes)
Even if that is the case (if you help an industrial civilization, there won’t be a lot of time for evolution to happen before the space stage) it’s part of a civil society to help everyone and not do this:
I was viewing this idea like this as well. They were to think you as a shaman or god. A healer, a savior who ascends from the heavens.
That is an interesting way of viewing it. There could be a limit to how much you can do to them.
After you’ve finished your uplifting, teaching them the ways of civilization, you can watch their progress from space (or ‘the heavens’). Maybe you could even visit them, but that seems a little far - fetched. They would obviously be in a mass panic if massive ship just dived in on of their cities.
Well maybe you could go the other way. Organise some sort of planet wide Hunger Games to weed out the weak and make the ultimate super soldiers for your empire?
Problem with this is if you did it the super soldiers you created would hate you if they had any sort of intelligence. Think Elites from Halo. Grunts from Halo are put in such a shitty position that they don’t have the ability to realize that they are being used. Grunts are actually child soldiers and most die shortly after they can reproduce. Think about that next time you slaughter a unit of them…
If you (again, the player) evolve your species as warriors, maybe they would uplift an adaptable species to a higher, more stronger state. It would be interesting to extract them, train them with military tactics and skill. Or, if you’re really sadistic, you could even add cybernetic parts onto them, to make them ‘better’. You could completely wipe their memories, and replace them with military skill, much like the combine from Half Life 2.
I think uplifting should be as free from limitations as possible, my plan is build space speakers and blast music at they’re planet till they become a space age civ.
