Self-preservation should be humankind’s first ethical priority and therefore rapid space settlement is necessary

Futures ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 35-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Patrick Green
Keyword(s):  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Oman-Reagan

This paper considers possible futures for human space settlements through the life story and experiences of David Vetter—a child born with severe combined immunodeficiency who became known in popular media as the “bubble boy.” Lynn Margulis imagined the creation of ecosystems and human settlements on another planet could be an act of Gaia reproducing by budding, through ecopoiesis. Thinking with Margulis about humans as holobionts, our species is both constituted by and embedded within communities of organisms and ecologies. As holobionts we may not be able to live outside of these communities and systems or away from Earth, even if we can temporarily survive without them. Placed within an evolutionary framework, techno-capitalist imaginaries of space settlement limit conceptions of planetary reproduction to heteronormative models of ecopoiesis which promote competition as a key driver of evolution instead of cooperation. Technologically mediated survival along with forced reproduction of holobionts within Earth-like systems and could lead to suffering and isolation like David Vetter’s forced survival in a bubble. I propose alternative liberatory modes of conceptualizing and materializing space migration (including queer and decolonized forms of reproduction) which better respect the Earth, its inhabitants, as well as extraterrestrial planets, landscapes, lives, and possibilities. Cite as: Oman-Reagan, Michael P. “Politics of Planetary Reproduction and the Children of Other Worlds.” Futures. (Forthcoming, 2019)


Author(s):  
James S.J. Schwartz

The Value of Science in Space Exploration provides a rigorous assessment of the value of scientific knowledge and understanding in the context of contemporary space exploration. It argues that traditional spaceflight rationales are deficient, and that the strongest defense of spaceflight comes from its potential to produce intrinsically and instrumentally valuable knowledge and understanding. It engages with contemporary epistemology to articulate an account of the intrinsic value of scientific knowledge and understanding. It also parleys with recent work in science policy and social philosophy of science to characterize the instrumental value of scientific research, identifying space research as an effective generator of new knowledge and understanding. These values found an ethical obligation to engage in scientific examination of the space environment. This obligation has important implications for major space policy discussions, including debates surrounding planetary protection policies, space resource exploitation, and human space settlement. Whereas planetary protection policies are currently employed to prevent biological contamination only of sites of interest in the search for extraterrestrial life, it contends that all sites of interest to space science ought to be protected. Meanwhile, space resource exploitation and human space settlement would result in extensive disruption or destruction of pristine space environments. The overall ethical value of these environments in the production of new knowledge and understanding is greater than their value as commercial or real commodities, and thus, exploitation and settlement of space should be avoided until the scientific community adequately understands these environments.


Space Policy ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martyn J Fogg

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Al Globus ◽  
Ruth Globus ◽  
Hami Teal ◽  
Wenonah Vercoutere ◽  
Tugrul Sezen ◽  
...  

Studia Humana ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-30
Author(s):  
Konrad Szocik ◽  
Bartłomiej Tkacz

Abstract Yuri Gagarin has started the first time in human history the manned mission in space when his Vostok aircraft successfully achieved Earth orbit in 1961. Since his times, human space programs did not develop too much, and the biggest achievement still remain landing on the Moon. Despite this stagnation, there are serious plans to launch manned mission to Mars including human space settlement. In out paper, we are going to identify and discuss a couple of challenges that – in our opinion – will be a domain of every human deep-space program.


GeoTextos ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guiomar Inez Germani

Este artigo tem como objetivo traçar a trajetória histórica e social que forjou as bases para o estabelecimento da estrutura e organização do espaço rural no Brasil. Destaca as condições históricas e sociais que regulam o acesso a terra e como estas orientaram o processo de apropriação privada das terras livres em muito poucas mãos desde o período inicial da colonização portuguesa. Analisa, também, como este processo teve continuidade nos períodos posteriores, garantindo e fortalecendo a concentração da estrutura fundiária, como monopólio de classe, enquanto o número de trabalhadores rurais sem terra continua a crescer. É uma tentativa de entender como, em diferentes momentos da história, as relações sociais estabelecidas foram conformando a apropriação privada da natureza e, ao mesmo tempo, a organização do espaço rural, sendo legitimada pelo poder político através de uma legislação que é sempre usada para por obstáculos e dificultar o acesso a terra a amplas camadas da população. Em tempos mais recentes, os trabalhadores rurais sem terra opõem resistência a esta situação. De forma organizada, agem em todo o território nacional tentando por um fim a esta pesada herança e a escrever uma história em novas bases e com novas regras para o acesso a terra. Abstract This paper is meant to trace the historical and social trajectory that launched the bases for the Brazilian rural space settlement. It analyses the different forms of access to the land as well as the process which has lead to the capture of the “free lands” in very few hands during the early period of the Portuguese colonization. It also describes how this process has shaped and strengthened the structure of the land monopoly, concentrated and violent by it-self while the number of landless peasants continues to increase. It is an attempt to understand how in different moments of the history, this process was legitimated by the political power through laws that although not always permanent on the paper, were always used to oppose obstacles against the access to the land. Recently, the rural landless workers began to fight this situation. In an organized way, they are acting on the whole national territory with the hope that they will put an end to this heavy heritage and write a new history by themselves with new bases and new rules for the access to the land.


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