Eight ethical questions about exploring outer space that [Supposedly] need answers

phys.org ^ | Benjamin Sachs

[BenLurkin]

question #1: should we care about the universe beyond how it affects us as humans?

Question #2: the kind of life we are most likely to discover elsewhere is microbial – so how should we view this lifeform?

Question #4: is there a duty to protect the environment on other planets?

Question #5: what, besides biological contamination, would count as violating such an obligation to treat that planet's environment with respect? Drilling for core samples, perhaps, or leaving instruments behind, or putting tyre tracks in the dirt?

Question #6: what about asteroids?

Question #7: what considerations might offset arguments in favour of behaving ethically in space?

Question #8: given that the Earth is not the only potential home for human beings, what reasons for protecting its environment would remain once we can realistically go somewhere else?

[a fool in paradise]

>>Question #4: is there a duty to protect the environment on other planets?

A research grant in search of a problem. OBVIOUSLY.

[a fool in paradise]

I’m in the wrong business. OBVIOUSLY.

[PeteePie]

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

#23. The other side of the stone said, “We have run out of parking space for rockets.”

[mindburglar]

Are the aliens coming to kill us asking the same questions?

[PIF]

Are the aliens coming to kill us asking the same questions?

—

No. The war fleet massing in the Ort Cloud is already active and pursuing a course to the inner Kepler Belt were it will launch an attack from a safe distance.

[Clutch Martin]

Populate the universe with gut flora from jettisoned crap filled plastic bags!.

[central_va]

Interstellar travel is physical impossibility.

[Big Mack]

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but there are only seven questions. Number three seems to be missing,

[I want the USA back]

#9. Space exploration by humans would involve successive generations of people. Some would be born on the spacecraft, live, and die without setting foot on Earth or on another planet. There is no question that this is NOT moral. Forcing people to never see Earth is wrong. We are optimized for life on Earth, and not on a spacecraft or any other planet.
#10. No doubt whatsover that crew or passengers who get sick will be put to death and expelled. No doubt at all. They will not tell you this. They will do it.
#11. Same for children born in flight who are not useful. Down’s. Autism. Others.
#12. There will be no marriage. Sex will be separated from reproduction. Sperm and egg will be united in a laboratory, and grown to gestation. The warmth and bonding of a mother will be missing, producing neurotic little humans.
#13. The flight will be implementing the left’s dream of a society without religion, and whose rules and laws are those made by the space agency. Any ideas of right and wrong that we have will be absent on the space ship.
#14. Abnormal humans will be produced on the flight. Humans are made for Earth, not for the confines of a long tube. Painting scenes of blue skies, green forests, and running water will not substitute for the real thing. Showing movies of life on Earth will not produce normal humans. If ever this becomes a reality, it is my hope that this fact will lead to mutiny or premature termination of the mission.

[wally_bert]

Paging Commander Quark.

[utahb52]

Am I the first to ask what about question #3?

[KarlInOhio]

Going to need a Chick-fil-A too. But no Starbucks - we have to quarantine the pandemic here.

[JAKraig]

Certainly if we are affected by the universe we should care about it.

Our Solar System is not stationary and moves through the galaxy which moves through the universe. We should be aware of what is happening around us to see how it affects us.

Our solar system is probably a little less than 5 billion years old yet the universe is over 13 billion years old. Civilization only happened on this planet about 6000=10000 years ago and we only became industrial about 200 years ago. It has been less than 100 years that we have been more than remotely aware of the local solar system much less the universe.

So far what I have said has only been to put us on the same page, now I will get to my point. It is most unlikely that we are not alone in the universe. There are solar systems 3 times our age which would mean that if a world progressed just like ours that the inhabitants of it would be 10,000,000,000 years ahead of us. I can't even imagine what our world would be like 100 years from now, try 1000 years now try 10 billion.

If the inhabitants of advanced worlds don't want us to see them we won't.

Because as humans we have very short life spans the time it takes to get electromagnetic communications across great distance means we won't be communicating with others who are light years away, if you have to wait 10000’s of years for reply to a question you will have forgotten the question or it will be meaningless.

I don't know where God came from but if we were to meet someone from a civilization that was 10 billion years old to us they would be gods. Kind of like the representation of the character “Q” from “Star Trek”. He was god like but was a child. Whatever he was he was normal for his society or civilization.

I think it is great to have knowledge of what is around us and perhaps even important if we are able to divert some asteroid that would tear the earth apart if we don't change it's course.

I don't begrudge the money spent learning about where we are but people might be wise to learn about the God who placed us here and what He has planned for us and how He expects us to return to Him and be like Him.

[GingisK]

Well, that is YOUR opinion. Mine is different. I yearn for humans to strike out for the starts, generation ships or not. That is the intended purpose of such a large Creation.

[Eagles6]

EARTH FIRST! (We’ll mine the other planets later).

[SgtHooper]

LMAO!

[minnesota_bound]

We invade all other planets and create a empire!!!