Modifying the Environment or Human Nature? What is the Right Choice for Space Travel and Mars Colonisation?

Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Tập 17 - Trang 1-13 - 2023
Maurizio Balistreri1, Steven Umbrello1,2,3
1Department of Philosophy and Educational Science, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
2Department of Values, Technology & Innovation, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
3Center for Advanced Studies, Eurac Research, Bolzano, Italy

Tóm tắt

As space travel and intentions to colonise other planets are becoming the norm in public debate and scholarship, we must also confront the technical and survival challenges that emerge from these hostile environments. This paper aims to evaluate the various arguments proposed to meet the challenges of human space travel and extraterrestrial planetary colonisation. In particular, two primary solutions have been present in the literature as the most straightforward solutions to the rigours of extraterrestrial survival and flourishing: (1) geoengineering, where the environment is modified to become hospitable to its inhabitants, and (2) human (bio)enhancement where the genetic heritage of humans is modified to make them more resilient to the difficulties they may encounter as well as to permit them to thrive in non-terrestrial environments. Both positions have strong arguments supporting them but also severe philosophical and practical drawbacks when exposed to different circumstances. This paper aims to show that a principled stance where one position is accepted wholesale necessarily comes at the opportunity cost of the other where the other might be better suited, practically and morally. This paper concludes that case-by-case evaluations of the solutions to space travel and extraterrestrial colonisation are necessary to ensure moral congruency and the survival and flourishing of astronauts now and into the future.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Walker R (2019) Nukes can never terraform Mars - a million 100 megaton nukes can’t do it - Elon Musk’s Sci. Fi Teeshirts. Science 2.0. Retrieved 30 March 2022, from https://www.science20.com/robert_walker/nukes_can_never_terraform_mars_a_million_100_megaton_nukes_cant_do_it_elon_musks_sci_fi_teeshirts-240782 McKay CP (1982) On terraforming Mars. Extrapolation 23(4):309 McKay CP (2009) Planetary ecosynthesis on Mars: restoration ecology and environmental ethics. In: Bertka CM (ed) Exploring the origin, extent, and future of life: philosophical, ethical and theological perspectives, Cambridge astrobiology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 245–260 Szocik K, Braddock M (2019) Why human enhancement is necessary for successful human deepspace missions. New Bioeth 25(4):295–317 Szocik K, Shelhamer M, Braddock M, Cucinotta FA, Impey C, Worden P, Peters T et al (2021) Future space missions and human enhancement: medical and ethical challenges. Futures 133:102819. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102819 Szocik K, Tachibana K (2019) Research viewpoint: Human enhancement and artificial intelligence for space missions. Astropolitics 17(3):208–219 Balistreri M, Umbrello S (2022) Should the colonisation of space be based on reproduction? Critical considerations on the choice of having a child in space. J Responsible Technol 11:100040. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrt.2022.100040 Habermas J (2003) The future of human nature. Polity Press, Cambridge Sandel M (2007) The case against perfection. Ethics in the age of genetic engineering. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA Fukuyama F (2002) Our posthuman future. Consequences of the biotechnology revolution. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York Cooper GF (2017) Stephen Hawking: Earth could be ‘ball of fire’ in 600 year .https://www.cnet.com/news/stephenhawking-earth-ball-of-fire-600-yearstencent-we-summit-beijing/ Szocik K, Norman Z, Reiss MJ (2020) Ethical challenges in human space missions: A space refuge, scientific value, and human gene editing for space. Science and Engineering Ethics. pp 1209–1227 Szocik K (2021) Humanity should colonize space in order to survive but not with embryo space colonization. Int J Astrobiol 20(4):319–322. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550421000148 Kass L (2002) Life, liberty and the defense of dignity. Encounter Books, San Francisco Buchanan A (2011) Beyond humanity? The ethics of biomedical enhancement. Oxford University Press, Oxford Buchanan A (2017) Better than human: The promise and perils of biomedical. Oxford University Press, Oxford Harris J (2010) Enhancing evolution: The ethical case for making better people. Princeton University Press, Princeton Savulescu J, Bostron N (2009) Human enhancement. Oxford University Press, Oxford Sorgner SL (2021) We have always been cyborgs: Digital data, gene technologies, and an ethics of transhumanism. Bristol University Press, Bristol, UK Baylis F (2019) Altered inheritance. CRISPR and the Ethics of Human Genome Editing. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA Davies K (2021) Editing humanity. The CRISPR revolution and the new era of genome editing. Pegasus Books, Berkeley Musunuru K (2019) The CRISPR generation. The story of the world’s first gene-edited babies. Bookbaby, Pennsauken Musunuru K (2021) Genome editing: A practical guide to research and clinical applications. Academic Press, Cambridge, MA Greely H (2021) CRISPR people. The science and ethics of editing humans. MIT Press, Cambridge Szocik K (ed) (2020) Human enhancements for space missions. Springer, Cham, Switzerland Szocik K (2020) Is human enhancement in space a moral duty? Missions to Mars, advanced AI and genome editing in space. Camb Q Healthc Ethics 29(1):122–130 Garasic M (2021) The war of ethical worlds: Why an acceptance of post-humanism on Mars does not imply a follow-up on Earth. Medicina e Morale 70(3):317–327. https://doi.org/10.4081/mem.2021.944 Balistreri M, Umbrello S (2022) Space travel does not constitute a condition of moral exceptionality. That which obtains in space obtains also on Earth! Medicina E Morale 71(3):311–321. https://doi.org/10.4081/mem.2022.1213 Persson I, Savulescu J (2012) Unfit for the future. The need of moral enhancement. Oxford University Press, Oxford Abood S (2020) Crossing the posthuman Rubicon: When do enhancements change our definition of human? In: Szocik K (ed) Human enhancements for space missions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42036-9 Agar N (2004) Liberal eugenics. Blackwell, Oxford, UK Agar N (2010) Humanity’s end. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA Glover J (2006) Choosing children. Genes, disability, and design. Oxford University Press, Oxford Danaher J (2018) Moral enhancement and moral freedom: A critique of the little Alex problem. R Inst Philos Suppl 83:233–250. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1358246118000371 DeGrazia D (2014) Moral enhancement, freedom, and what we (should) value in moral behaviour. J Med Ethics 40(6):361–368 Douglas T (2008) Moral enhancement. J Appl Philos 25(3):228–245. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5930.2008.00412.x Rakíc V (2021) How to enhance morality. Springer, Springer, Cham, Switzerland Rakíc V (2021) The ultimate enhancement of morality. Springer, Cham, Switzerland Umbrello S, Balistreri M (2023) Human enhancement and reproductive ethics on generation ships. Argumenta Dworkin R (1994) Life’s dominion: An argument about abortion, euthanasia, and individual freedom. Vintage, New York Taylor P (1981) The ethics of respect for nature. Environmental Ethics 3:197–218 Taylor P (2011) Respect for nature. Princeton University Press, Princeton Rolston III H (1975) Is there an ecological ethic? Ethics 85:93–109. https://doi.org/10.1086/291944 Rolston III H (1988) Environmental ethics: Duties to and values in the natural world. Temple University Press, Indiana Rolston III H (1989) Philosophy gone wild. Prometheus Books, New York City: NY Callicott JB (1989) In defense of the land ethic: Essays in environmental philosophy. SUNY Press, Albany, NY Callicott JB (1999) Beyond the land ethic: more essays in environmental philosophy. SUNY Press, Albany Callicott JB (2013) Thinking like a planet: The land ethic and earth ethic. Oxford University Press, Oxford Stone CD (1972) Should trees have standing? Southern California Law Review 45:450–501 Agar N (2001) Life’s intrinsic value. Columbia University Press, New York Di Paola M, Garasic MD (2023) Philosophy and Mars colonization. Routledge, Milton Park (under contract) Schwartz JSJ, Milligan T (eds) (2016) The ethics of space exploration. Springer, Cham McMahon S (2016) The aesthetic objection to terraforming Mars. In: Schwartz J, Milligan T (eds) The ethics of space exploration. Space and society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39827-3_15 Rolston III H (1986) The preservation of natural value in the solar system. In: Hargrove EC (ed) Beyond spaceship earth: Environmental ethics and the solar system. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, pp 140–182 Sparrow R (1999) The ethics of terraforming. Environmental Ethics 21:227–245. https://doi.org/10.5840/enviroethics199921315 Hume D (2000) A treatise of human nature (ed. by David F. Notyon and Mary J. Norton). Oxford University Press, Oxford Norman Z, Reiss MJ (2020) Two planets, one species: Does a mission to mars alter the balance in favour of human enhancement? In: Szocik K (ed) Human enhancements for space missions. Springer, Cham, p 151–167