Space Exploration Needs Extraterrestrial Ethics 162
An anonymous reader writes "Professor Andy Miah notes there's already international government policies taking hold on outer space — and a need for new ethical guidelines. 'For instance, what obligations do we owe to the various life forms we send there, or those we might discover? Can we develop a more considerate approach to colonizing outer space than we were able to achieve for various sectors of Earth?' And what rights do astronauts have? 'Could our inevitable public surveillance of their behavior become too much of an infringement on their personal privacy?' But more importantly, professor Miah notes that 'the goods of space exploration far exceed the symbolic value,' pointing out that 'A vast amount of research and development derives from space exploration ... For example, the United Kingdom's 2007 Space Policy inquiry indicated that the creation of space products contributes two to three times their value in GDP.'"
Puny Optimists... (Score:5, Funny)
When dealing with aliens, "terror" and "weakness" will be sufficient. With the occasional "being dissolved by acid blood" for the truly tricky situations...
WTF (Score:5, Funny)
Who let the facehugger have the baby!?!?!
Oh, yeah, there was an article too. Yeah, yeah, we need ethics, blah, blah. OK? Am I on-topic yet?
But I mean OMG WTF? The baby! It has a facehugger! Rescue it already!
Re:WTF (Score:3, Funny)
Why? Looks to me like the facehugger isn't having any trouble at all...
Re:WTF (Score:5, Funny)
Ethics (Score:2, Funny)
Didn't the Federation already agree on the Prime Directive?
Re:Ethics (Score:2, Funny)
Shut the fuck up.
easy policy statement (Score:5, Funny)
"Don't be evil."
"Unless it's _really_ profitable."
Re:Puny Optimists... (Score:3, Funny)
Well it works for Washington.
No it doesn't... never mind.
Re:here's an idea (Score:5, Funny)
May I suggest this rather simple but effective ethics:
Value sentience.
There needs to be some measure of sentience, so that it is not based on emotion.
1. Do they have some form of communication. +10
2. Do they have a writing system: +10
3. Do they have agriculture: +10
4. Do they have a scientific system: +10
5. Are they tasty: -100