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From: milne@uci-icse
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: "Where no man has gone before"
Message-ID: <2422@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Fri, 28-Jun-85 02:14:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: topaz.2422
Posted: Fri Jun 28 02:14:47 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 1-Jul-85 06:38:04 EDT
Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: Alastair Milne 


   I usually take that frontispiece "... boldly go where no man has gone
   before" in about the same vein as the publishers' scribbles on the covers
   of paperbacks: if, by some accident, they come close to describing what's
   in the book, you're lucky.  And it's true that Enterprise from time to time
   undertook explorations in previously untrodden (so to speak) territory.
   However, most of the time she had duties to fulfill as one of the 12 or 13
   most powerful ships of the Federation's fleet.  She could hardly do that
   while spending 5 years out of contact with anybody at all.  Furthermore,
   how likely is it that anybody would send so expensive a ship and crew out
   simply to be a remote survey vessel?  Or that StarFleet would entrust *all*
   diplomatic dealings with newly-contacted races to a crew whose primary
   orientation was military?  Let Enterprise and her sisters establish first
   contact, but let the Federation's diplomatic corp do their job as soon as
   possible.

   Though as for the naming of the newly discovered planets, they seemed to
   follow a naming system using first the name of the constellation in which
   the sun was found, a Greek letter specifying the particular sun (possibly
   by absolute magnitude), and a number specifying the planet of that sun.  So
   they could actually specify names for as-yet hypothetical planets.  One
   wonders if all the constellation names were for those seen from Earth, or
   if other planets got their points of view represented as well.

   So I take it for granted that, though they may occasionally go where no
   human has gone before (boldly, I trust), they will usually be going where
   there are plenty of humans, and others, already.

   (Do you realise how many people must now think that "... to boldly go..."
   is acceptable English grammar?)

   Alastair Milne