I think Winterwind has an excellent point. Star Trek has trouble with the implied contradiction between "inclusive future for everyone with lots of tolerance" and "Ah, look at how quaint all those irrational aliens are for not adopting our social model. See how they would be mired in savagery if not for our enlightening influence? We must be careful not to touch these cultures for fear of damaging them!"

Quote Originally Posted by GoC View Post
Which makes no sense btw.
That depends on what the Vulcans really do inside their heads. The fact that the way the Vulcans we see think is called "logic," or translates into English as "logic," does not mean that Vulcans are intellectual superiors of humans. Among other things, it is strongly implied that rather than being emotionless by nature, Vulcans make a deliberate effort to suppress emotion through meditation and mental discipline. On the one hand, this might make them better at considering some situations dispassionately and coming up with a ruthlessly "right" answer. On the other, it could also give them a head full of mental complexes that cripple their ability to handle some kinds of situations.

In which case there could easily be situations where a human would have no trouble picking an answer (a right answer?), but a Vulcan would be paralyzed.

They are expendable. The reason a life has value is because it is unique and irreplacable and it's destruction would cause immense sadness to those around it. [goes on to say that this doesn't apply to Jem-Hadar
That is a specific philosophical perspective, not a universally obvious fact. There are moral systems in which making 1000 copies of one person does not make any of the copies any less valuable, significant, or real than the original was.

That was actually the stupidest moment in the series. It removed the main limits on replicator technology and left you wondering why the heck the Federation hasn't launched a series of Von Newmann probes and created fleets of a billion warships?
It's not hard to come up with answers to that. The most notable reasons might be:
-Fear of the effects of replicator malfunctions. Normal replicator technology is not dangerous because it can't create enormous numbers of anything without a specific order to do so, and because it doesn't go searching for raw materials to make copies with. Von Neumann machines do.
-Human factors. Federation ships are typically designed to require crews, with good reason- the Federation has already had at least one disastrous experience with a pure AI-controlled ship. As in "lost a Constitution-class with all hands" disastrous. But there's no point in building a billion ships if you're not prepared to train a billion crews.
-Size limits. A practical limit on the maximum mass that can be replicated in one go is a sharp limit on how fast you could build vast replicated warfleets.