Star Trek: 10 Times The Federation Was The Bad Guy
7. The Ban On All Synthetic Life
When synths destroyed the Utopia Planitia shipyards and set Mars alight, over 90,000 lives were lost.
Now, no one is saying that the events on Mars weren't a tragedy, but surely, the Federation's response of banning all synthetics, without question, without thorough investigation, without nuance, without exception, and seemingly without meaningful review for fourteen long years...well, it seems like the kind of response a Health and Safety department run by Kelpiens might make.
The attack was put down to a fatal code error, but surely the Federation would want to figure out exactly what caused that error? Surely?
Think about it, they banned an entire class of synthetic life, denying them the right to even exist, let alone create more of their kind. Any existing synths were dismantled, and we don't even want to think of the implications for more advanced intelligences that may well have existed...especially in a universe where such care had been taken to prove the 'measure of a man'. And the sad story of the death of Deanna and Will's son brought into focus the consequences it had in the field of medicine. Just how many lives were tragically changed or lost due to the ban?
If there had been absolutely no other solution, or even if the ban had been a temporary precaution, it would be more defensible. The Federation had an array of technological resources at its fingertips to research and implement a less radical solution...even if just to allow for life-saving medical procedures to resume.
And when it's discovered that the Zhat Vash (a secret Romulan faction, even more secret than the other secret Romulan faction) orchestrated the attack on Mars to incriminate the synths and trigger a ban, it becomes patently clear that the ban was completely unnecessary in the first place.
Raffi had been so close to the truth at the time of the attack...it's boggling to think that not one inquiring mind picked that thread up over the following years. And we don't buy the idea that a Romulan cabal being responsible for a false flag incident was somehow unthinkable...it's *exactly* the kind of sly tactic Romulan officers are famous for. It was simply the motive that was missing.
Fourteen years the Federation had to sort this mess out before Picard did it for them. Fourteen years...