Why would many future interstellar spaceship designs come with a self-destruct button instead of an EMO button?
The year is 2267 A.D. Humanity has colonized Prima Centuari system. A federal government is established; the population is expected to grow at an exponential rate to reach 1 billion by 2300 A.D.
A self-destruct button is self explanatory: you punched the button to start the countdown sequence. When the number reaches zero... kaboom!
The Emergency Off or EMO button is more forgiving. It simply cuts off the primary power supply and leaving the ship's circuits deadish! However, crew can then manually reset the button to allow current to flow through again. There is nothing lost but time.
I am wondering why new non-military starship blueprints would include a self-destruct module and have the EMO button taken out? Note: in my story, self-destruct and EMO are mutually exclusive! No FTL.
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You might not want them following you home
You never know what you might run into out in the deep of space. If you come across a new civilization that would pose an imminent threat to humanity, such as the xenomorphs from Alien, the Prime from Peter F. Hamilton's commonwealth, etc. then you'd be better off destroying the ship than risk someone trying to go home and bring trouble with them. Self preservation is a very strong instinct, and so having a way to override it is important.
If the universe is a dark forest then anyone going out into it has a duty to humanity to have a way to ensure that trouble stays out there.
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