Astrobiology

Astrobiology
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ASTROBIOLOGY[/b] This unique book advances the frontier discussion of a wide spectrum of astrobiological issues on scientific advances, space ethics, social impact, religious meaning, and public policy formulation. Astrobiology is an exploding discipline in which not only the natural sciences, but also the social sciences and humanities converge. Astrobiology: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy is a multidisciplinary book that presents different perspectives and points of view by its contributing specialists. Epistemological, moral and political issues arising from astrobiology, convey the complexity of challenges posed by the search for life elsewhere in the universe. We ask: if a convoy of colonists from Earth make the trip to Mars, should their genomes be edited to adapt to the Red Planet’s environment? If scientists discover a biosphere with microbial life within our solar system, will it possess intrinsic value or merely utilitarian value? If astronomers discover an intelligent civilization on an exoplanet elsewhere in the Milky Way, what would be humanity’s moral responsibility: to protect Earth from an existential threat? To treat other intelligences with dignity? To exploit through interstellar commerce? To conquer? Audience The book will attract readers from a wide range of interests including astronomers, astrobiologists, chemists, biologists, space engineers, ethicists, theologians and philosophers.

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Группа авторов. Astrobiology

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

Guide

Pages

Astrobiology. Science, Ethics, and Public Policy

Foreword

Preface

1. Astrobioethics: Epistemological, Astrotheological, and Interplanetary Issues

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Epistemological Issue

1.3 Astrotheological Issue

1.4 Interplanetary Issue

1.5 Conclusions

References

2. Astroethics for Earthlings: Our Responsibility to the Galactic Commons

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Laying the Foundation for an Astroethics of Responsibility

2.2.1 First Foundational Question: Who Are We?

2.2.2 Second Foundational Question: What Do We Value?

2.2.2.1 Science and Value

2.2.2.2 Religious Reliance on the Common Good

2.2.2.3 A Secular Grounding for Astroethics?

2.2.3 Third Foundational Question: What Should We Do? 2.2.3.1 From Quandary to Responsibility

2.2.3.2 From Space Sanctuary to Galactic Commons

2.3 Astroethical Quandaries Arising Within the Solar Neighborhood

2.3.1 Does Planetary Protection Apply Equally to Both Earth and Off-Earth Locations?

2.3.2 Does Off-Earth Life Have Intrinsic Value?

2.3.3 Should Astroethicists Adopt the Precautionary Principle?

2.3.4 Who’s Responsible for Space Debris?

2.3.5 How Should We Govern Satellite Surveillance?

2.3.6 Should We Weaponize Space?

2.3.7 Which Should Have Priority: Scientific Research or Making a Profit?

2.3.8 Should We Earthlings Terraform Mars?

2.3.9 Should We Establish Human Settlements on Mars?

2.3.10 How Do We Protect Earth from the Sky?

2.4 Levels of Intelligence in the Milky Way Metropolis

2.4.1 What is Our Responsibility Toward Intellectually Inferior ETI?

2.4.2 What is Our Responsibility Toward Peer ETI?

2.4.3 What is Our Responsibility Toward Superior ETI or Even Post-Biological Intelligence?

2.5 Conclusion

References

3. Moral Philosophy for a Second Genesis

3.1 Moral Philosophy on Earth and Elsewhere. 3.1.1 The Origin of Ethics and Its Universal Relevance

3.1.2 Why Should We Act Morally?

3.1.3 Is a New Morality Needed for Astrobiological Explorations?

3.2 Identifying the Lack of Ethical Substance in Science Communication. 3.2.1 Understanding the Boundaries of Knowledge

3.2.2 Implications of the Limits and Horizons of Science

3.3 Going from Astrobiology to Astrobioethics: A Big Step for Science and Humanism. 3.3.1 The Pathway from Ethics to Bioethics and to Astrobioethics

3.3.2 The Question of the Role of Ethics in Astrobiology

3.4 Would There Be New Ethical Principles if There Were a Second Genesis? 3.4.1 Inevitability of the Emergence of a Particular Biosignature

3.4.2 Universalizable Ethical Criteria

3.5 Astrobioethics is Subject to Constraints on Chance

3.5.1 Not All Genes Are Equally Significant Targets for Evolution

3.5.2 Evolutionary Changes Are Constrained

3.6 How Are We Going to Treat Non-Human Life Away from the Earth? 3.6.1 Can Ethical Behavior Be Extended into a Cosmic Context

3.6.2 Instrumentation for the Search of Life

3.7 Ethical Principles in Early Proposals for the Search for Non-Human Life in the Solar System. 3.7.1 Ethical Considerations in Previous Research in the Solar System

3.7.2 Instrumentation That Might Harm Exo-Microorganisms

3.8 Conclusion

Glossary

References

4. Who Goes There? When Astrobiology Challenges Humans

4.1 Introduction

4.2 The Copernican Revolution

4.3 Religious Reactions to the Copernican Revolution

4.4 Astrobiology and Speculation

4.5 Heretics

4.6 The Many Worlds Hypothesis

4.7 Desecration of Planets Beyond Earth

4.8 The Precautionary Principle

4.9 The Sacred Beyond Earth

4.10 Who Goes There?

4.11 Conclusion: The Astrobiological Apocalypse

Further Readings

5. Social and Ethical Currents in Astrobiological Debates

5.1 Introductory Musings

5.2 Uncertainty Opens the Door

5.3 Time Frames

5.4 Conceptual Frames

5.4.1 Error Avoiders vs. Optimizers

5.4.2 Ecologicals vs. Anthropocentrists

5.4.3 Communalists vs. Commercialists

5.5 Complications, Connections, and CYA

5.6 A Concluding Thought

References

6. The Ethics of Biocontamination

6.1 The Beresheet Tardigrades

6.2 Our Conflicting Intuitions

6.3 The Intelligibility of Microbial Value

6.4 Contamination and Discovery

6.5 Conclusion

References

7. Astrobiology Education: Inspiring Diverse Audiences with the Search for Life in the Universe

7.1 The State of Astrobiology

7.2 Astrobiology as a Profession

7.3 Graduate Programs

7.4 Undergraduate Programs

7.5 Conferences and Schools

7.6 Courses for Non-Science Majors

7.7 Massive Open Online Classes

7.8 Teaching Materials and Books

References

8. Genetics, Ethics, and Mars Colonization: A Special Case of Gene Editing and Population Forces in Space Settlement

8.1 Introduction. 8.1.1 The Complex Relationship Between Population Forces and Ethics

8.1.2 Humans Evolving on Earth and Mars

8.1.3 Bioenhancements: Science, Technology, and Ethics

8.1.4 A Set of Astrobioethical Guidelines for Off-World Exploration

8.2 Population Forces and the Ethical Issues They Raise. 8.2.1 Natural Selection and Genetic Drift on Mars

8.2.2 Contrasting and Convergent Population Forces on Earth and Mars

8.2.3 Population Forces When Humans Colonize Mars, the Asteroids, and Outer Planets

8.3 Ethical Issues Implied by Population Forces and Genome Modification. 8.3.1 Selection of Interplanetary Migrants Based on Invasive Genetic Procedures

8.3.2 Required Pre-Settlement Genetic Remediation

8.3.3 Moral Context for Genetic Engineering for Space

8.4 Case Types for Off-World Population Change and Their Ethical Implications

8.4.1 The Case of the Isolated Space Colony

8.4.2 The Case of an Inclusivist or Exclusivist Space Colony: Science, Research, Intelligence

8.4.3 The Case of the Space Refuge as an Ethically Expensive Option

8.4.4 The Case of the Formation of a New Species of Human

8.5 Religious Ethics and Population Forces

8.6 Conclusions

Acknowledgement

References

9. Constructing a Space Ethics Upon Natural Law Ethics

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Space Ethics and Natural Law Ethics

9.3 A Natural Law Ethics Including Space

9.4 The Disadvantages, Ambiguities, and Advantages of a Natural Law Space Ethics

9.5 Conclusion

References

10. Two Elephants in the Room of Astrobiology

Abbreviations

10.1 Identifying the Two Elephants

10.2 The Phenomenon Elephant

10.3 The Weaponization Elephant

10.4 U.S. Government Spending on Weapons for Space

10.5 The Military-Industrial Complex Operates Under Euphemisms Citing “Government-Industry” Linkages

10.6 How the Two Elephants Are Connected

10.7 The Astroethics Public Policy Path Forward

References

11. Microbial Life, Ethics and the Exploration of Space Revisited

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Critiques of Intrinsic Value

11.2.1 The Argument from Existing Destruction

11.2.2 The Argument from Sheer Numbers

11.2.3 The Argument from Impracticality

11.2.4 The Argument from Prevailing View

11.2.5 The Argument from Respect

11.3 What of Intrinsic Value?

11.4 Adjudicating Other Interests

11.5 Do We Need a Cosmocentric Ethic for Microbial-Type Life?

11.6 Conclusions

References

12. Astrobiology, the United Nations, and Geopolitics

12.1 Introduction

12.2 What is Astrobiology?

12.3 Ethical Issues in Astrobiology

12.4 Astrobiology and Planetary Protection

12.5 Conflicting Ideologies

12.6 International Cooperation—or Not?

12.7 Conclusions

References

13. An Ethical Assessment of SETI, METI, and the Value of Our Planetary Home

13.1 A Brief History of SETI and METI

13.2 Ethical Analyses of SETI and METI

13.3 Ethical Proposals for the Road Ahead

References

14. The Axiological Dimension of Planetary Protection

14.1 Introduction

14.2 The Relation Between the Epistemic and the Axiological Dimensions of Planetary Protection

14.3 The Axiological Dimension of Planetary Protection Today

14.4 The Nature of Epistemic Values

14.5 The Outer Space Treaty and the Axiological Dimension of Planetary Protection

14.6 The Axiological Dimension of Planetary Protection – Historical Background

14.7 Ethics and Planetary Protection

14.8 Competing Values – Planetary Protection and the Commercial Use of Space

14.9 Conclusions

References

15. Who Speaks for Humanity? The Need for a Single Political Voice

15.1 Introduction

15.2 The Need for Global Decision-Making in an Astrobiological Context

15.3 Some Socio-Political Implications of Astrobiological Perspectives

15.4 Who Speaks for Humanity? Building Appropriate Political Institutions for Space Activities

15.4.1 A World Space Agency

15.4.2 Strengthening the United Nations for the Governance of Space Activities

15.4.3 Space Activities in the Context of a Future World Government

15.5 Conclusions

References

16. Interstellar Ethics and the Goldilocks Evolutionary Sequence: Can We Expect ETI to Be Moral?

16.1 Introduction

16.1.1 The Little Broached Question of Ethics

16.2 Astronomical Detection of Possible Life

16.2.1 The Complex Relationship Between Signals and Ethics

16.2.2 Astronomical Signal Detection, the Goldilocks Zone, Habitation, and Ethics. 16.2.2.1 Exoplanets

16.2.2.2 Exoplanets in the Goldilocks Zone

16.2.2.3 Exoplanets, Oxygen, and the ‘Red Edge’

16.2.2.4 The Great Leap from Plant Cover to Ethics

16.3 Operationalizing Human Neurological Features for an ETI Vetting Protocol

16.3.1 Parallel Moral Assessments by Host and Visitor

16.3.2 Anthropocene or ‘Adolescence’?

16.3.3 Vetting ETIs: Friend or Foe? Right vs. Wrong

16.3.4 Rationale and Approach: Operationalizing Human Neurology to Assess ETIs

16.3.4.1 Theory of Mind

16.3.4.2 Sequence of Evolutionary Innovations: Logical, Determinate, Systemic

16.3.4.3 Cultural, Moral, and Religious Capacities – How Important and in What Order?

16.3.4.4 Assessing ETIs for Culture

16.3.5 A Test for Neuroplasticity: The Clincher if We Have Time

16.4 Fictional Case Studies of Vetting ETIs. 16.4.1 Examples from Film and Television

16.4.2 Case Study of the Film Arrival

16.5 Conclusion

References

17. Intrinsic Value, American Buddhism, and Potential Life on Saturn’s Moon Titan

17.1 Introduction

17.2 Titan and Possible Weird Life

17.3 Some Strengths and Limitations of the Intrinsic Value Concept

17.4 Buddhist Scriptures and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

17.5 American Buddhists and Life on Titan

17.6 Discussion

17.7 Conclusion

References

18. A Space Settler’s Bill of Rights1

18.1 Introduction

18.2 Basic Physiological Needs

18.3 Physical and Psychological Well-Being

18.4 Freedom of Expression

18.5 Privacy

18.6 Reproductive Autonomy

18.7 Vocational and Educational Liberty

18.8 Communication

18.9 Constrained Dissent

18.10 Self-Governance and Revisability

18.11 Conclusion

References

Index

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Is it likely that yet-to-become neighbors are already living in our Milky Way metropolis? Yes, indeed. “A conservative estimate,” speculates University of Arizona astrobiologist Chris Impey, “might be a billion habitable ‘spots’— terrestrial planets in conventionally defined habitable zones, plus moons of giant planet harboring liquid water—in the Milky Way alone. That number must be multiplied by 1011 for the number of ‘petri dishes’ in the observable cosmos” [2.34].

When we meet them, will they be like us? No, says philosopher of biology Michael Ruse. Something like us, perhaps; but not us. “It seems that natural selection can and does produce intelligent beings all the way up to humans. I confess that even if this can happen, I would think selection would more likely produce humanoids—beings like humans but not necessarily identical to us. There might be at least as many Wookies in the universe as there are humans” [2.75].

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