I know that, having picked them, all the Races in the game I'm playing are going to exist and that I should meet them at some point.
Therefore it's logical I can't have diplomacy with a Race I have yet to say Howdy to.
But it's not logical that although I have yet to met the Drengin, I can see they are part of the UP and that they have 22% influence. If I know that then it makes sense I should know how they have that 22% - planets, influence blah blah - and if we're going to have access to that information, we may as well have Diplomacy from the get-go, which therefore makes a lot of the early Governance Techs - Universal Translater etc meaningless. If I'm only getting this because I'm playing Terran and I have this as a gift, then the Terran should at Turn 1 get Universal Translater and a couple of other Techs in the Governance Techs tree Researched so they know the reasons for the Dregin's 22% power in the UP.
Whatever the reason, it's a bit of a weird middle point approach to starting Race Knowledge for me as it now stands.
I think all information should be clouded/dark until you actually come across a Race's planet or ship. At least for now until you developer folk confirm Race Abilities etc etc.
And maybe a kind of penalty at the start where at Turn 1 you don't start as a member of the UP until you meet another Race and that Race Invites/Nominates you. It makes sense if the Race's Relations with you are good (and because they genuinely like you, not because of those 4 Lost Cutters you found and they're actually scared of your superior military.) This would discourage being an evil warmonger from the get-go and encourage patience, grasshopper before unleashing aforesaid evil warmongering.
Cheers and thanks for all the hard work.