Astrobiology: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy

Description

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? The book will attract readers from a wide range of interests including astronomers, astrobiologists, chemists, biologists, space engineers, ethicists, theologians and philosophers. Contents Foreword Preface 1 Astrobioethics: Epistemological, Astrotheological, and Interplanetary Issues • Octavio A. Chon Torres 2 Astroethics for Earthlings: Our Responsibility to the Galactic Commons • Ted Peters 3 Moral Philosophy for a Second Genesis • Julian Chela-Flores 4 Who Goes There? When Astrobiology Challenges Humans • Jacques Arnould 5 Social and Ethical Currents in Astrobiological Debates • Kelly C. Smith 6 The Ethics of Biocontamination • Tony Milligan 7 Astrobiology Education: Inspiring Diverse Audiences with the Search for Life in the Universe • Chris Impey 8 Genetics, Ethics, and Mars Colonization: A Special Case of Gene Editing and Population Forces in Space Settlement • Konrad Szocik, Margaret Boone Rappaport and Christopher Corbally 9 Constructing a Space Ethics Upon Natural Law Ethics • Brian Patrick Green 10 Two Elephants in the Room of Astrobiology • Jensine Andresen 11 Microbial Life, Ethics and the Exploration of Space Revisited • Charles S. Cockell 12 Astrobiology, the United Nations, and Geopolitics • Linda Billings 13 An Ethical Assessment of SETI, METI, and the Value of Our Planetary Home • Chelsea Haramia and Julia DeMarines 14 The Axiological Dimension of Planetary Protection • Erik Persson 15 Who Speaks for Humanity? The Need for a Single Political Voice • Ian A. Crawford 16 Interstellar Ethics and the Goldilocks Evolutionary Sequence: Can We Expect ETI to Be Moral? • Margaret Boone Rappaport, Christopher Corbally and Konrad Szocik 17 Intrinsic Value, American Buddhism, and Potential Life on Saturn’s Moon Titan • Daniel Capper 18 A Space Settler’s Bill of Rights • Russell Greenall-Sharp, David Kobza, Courtney Houston, Mohammad Allabbad, Jamie Staggs and James S.J. Schwartz Index