Abstract
New discoveries in astrobiology give rise to many ethical questions. Does Mars belong to the Martians, even if the Martians are only microbes? What do we say in response to an alien message, and who speaks for Earth? How do we treat aliens, either remotely or in a “close encounter of the third kind?” These issues are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg in the new field of astroethics. We argue the need for a new cosmocentric, rather than anthropocentric, ethic.
Portions of this article were first published as a blog on the Scientific American website, August 8, 2018.
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Dick, S.J. (2020). Astroethics and Cosmocentrism. In: Space, Time, and Aliens. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41614-0_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41614-0_14
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