Abstract
This chapter responds to the urgency for reflecting on the large-scale ethical and ecological implications, socio-political challenges and technological preconditions of space migration , by highlighting the importance of treating outer space in relation to Earth, and not as a separated otherness. Instead of the utilitarian view, which perceives space as the ultimate resource, this chapter will engage with an onto-epistemological standpoint inspired by Heidegger’s definition of technology: outer space will be thus accessed as “a way of revealing”, allowing for an original understanding of this notion in the processual constitution of human and posthuman identities. In the first section, this chapter will demonstrate that, in the ancient world, astronomical insights were crucial to the perception of the Earth and to the development of human civilizations. The second section will underline how, in the space race, humans lost their ontological primacy, in relation to non-human animals and robots; it will also critically analyze the history of humans in space according to practices of discrimination such as: anthropocentrism , sexism and racism. The third section will highlight how space pragmatics should be revised by developing sustainable space technologies in order to comply with the theoretical principles of the “Outer Space Treaty” (1967), expanding the beneficial vision of space exploration, from humans and Earth, to non-human beings and non-human agents, including other planets. The dynamics of space migration will be inquired by reconciling the varied philosophical landscape of the posthuman, bridging different schools of thought such as: Posthumanism, Transhumanism, New Materialism and Object-Oriented Ontology .
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Notes
- 1.
This is the plan, as stated in the Mars One website: “Crews will depart for their one-way journey to Mars starting in 2026; subsequent crews will depart every 26 months after the initial crew has left for Mars” (Human Settlement on Mars, n. year).
- 2.
The precise number of applications is being disputed, varying from more than 2000 (Keep 2015) to more than 200,000, according to the Mars One website.
- 3.
Is important to note that this etymology is not unanimously accepted and that it has been contested for different reasons. From a linguistic perspective, it has been noted the change of the vowel “u”, which in “humus” is long (ū), while in “humanus” becomes short (ŭ) (cf. Romaniello 2004, 188–190). This interpretation has also been challenged for its semantics. As early as the 1st Century AC, Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (c. 35–c. 100) stated (Institutio Oratoria I, 6, 34): “Are we to assent to the view that homo is derived from humus, because man sprang from the earth, as though all other living things had not the same origin…?” (Quintilian and Butler 1920, 127).
- 4.
Saara Reiman calls this approach “Earth first” (2009, 83).
- 5.
Let’s note that the notion of astronomy in the ancient world cannot be fully assimilated to the contemporary scientific field.
- 6.
A specific area of studies called “archaeoastronomy” has recently developed around this topic (cf. Magli 2009).
- 7.
Such a gender-unneutral nomenclature is first to be found in the writings of Anaxagoras (c. 510–428 BC). Its Greek etymology of pan (“all”) and sperma, which in ancient Greek referred to both “origin, source” and to “(human) seed” (translation by Slater 1969), reflects the sexist, and scientifically inaccurate, vision which identified the active principle of life in the male reproductive fluid, while the female was considered to contribute passive matter. This view influenced the ways in which models of conception were described in standard Western science, until as late as the 1980s (Cordrick 2008, 69–70).
- 8.
It is important to note that the question of where life began does not answer the question of how life originated. For further investigation on the origins of life, see among others, Hazen (2005).
- 9.
As the head of the recovery team, Arvid Pallo recalls the joyful reaction of the two dogs: “they were visibly pleased to be back on Earth” (Burgess and Dubbs 2007, 206).
- 10.
The tardigrades, for instance, are tiny invertebrates known to be the first organisms to be found to survive the vacuum of space (cf. Guidetti et al. 2012, 99).
- 11.
One problem with robots has been their incapacity to adapt in case of injury, although a recent study has successfully employed specific algorithms which allowed robots to find ways to compensate for the damage (Cully et al. 2015).
- 12.
Here, I would like to briefly mention that the terms “cosmonaut” and “astronaut” are mostly synonyms: the term “cosmonaut” is used by the Russian Space Agency, while “astronaut” is used by other agencies such as NASA, ESA and JAXA. For a reflection on cultural-specific values of such terms, see Langston and Pell (2015).
- 13.
During the first day of her solo flight, Tereshkova detected an error in the automatic navigation software: the spacecraft was moving away from planet Earth, instead of going back towards it. Her mission could have turned into a tragedy, but Tereshkova was able to manage the situation. She reported the error and was thus able to save her life and complete the mission (cf. Evans 2009). Note that the error in the automatic system was made public only in 2004 (ibid., 58).
- 14.
As Garofali reports, “Sally Ride never ‘hid’” (2012), she was just very private about her personal life.
- 15.
An example of gender discrimination is the failure of the privately funded program later defined as Mercury 13 (1960), in which thirteen women successfully underwent some of the same screening tests used by NASA to select their male astronauts for project Mercury (cf. Ackmann 2003).
- 16.
Nikolai F. Fedorov (1829–1803), one of the theorists of Russian Cosmism, had a deep influence on Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935), whose scientific work largely contributed to the success of the Soviet space program.
- 17.
It is worth noticing that in Russian the term “cosmos” simply means “space”; following, the terms “cosmonaut” and “cosmism” are related to this notion.
- 18.
Rebecca Ballard clarifies the difference between hybrids and chimeras: “In a hybrid, each species combined contributes to half of the DNA contained within a single cell resulting in a blending of the two species characteristics and every cell in the body has that same genome. In contrast, a chimera is a product of grafting cells from one entity to another, rather than the blending one genome with another, which creates a mosaic of mis-matched parts because each population of cells retains its own distinct characteristics” (2008, 302). Ballard's article also offers a medical and legal overview on the topic of animal/human hybrids and chimeras.
- 19.
The Kármán Line is considered the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space (cf. Darrin and O'Leary 2009).
- 20.
- 21.
GPS is considered so essential to modern warfare (Gruber and Anderson 2013) that US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in 2013 stated: “To maintain our superiority in space, the Air Force continues to modernize the GPS program” (Secretary of Defense Speech, n. year).
- 22.
NASA underlines that “[n]o serious injury or significant property damage caused by reentering debris has been confirmed” (NASA Orbital Debris FAQs).
- 23.
Please note that this warning specifically refers to debris from the Columbia shuttle.
- 24.
In their comprehensive book “The tree of knowledge: the biological roots of human understanding” (1987), biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela stated: “Throughout the history of biology many criteria have been proposed. They all have drawbacks” (42).
- 25.
In his article “Are viruses alive?” (2004), Luis P. Villarreal affirms: “Viruses today are thought of as being in a gray area between living and nonliving” (97).
- 26.
That is, the hypothesis of changing Mars’ climate and surface in order to make it hospitable to humans.
- 27.
Following, the scholarly requirements for astronaut pilots should include not only a bachelor’s degree in “an appropriate field of engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics” (Astronaut Requirements, n. year), but also an education in space ethics, global studies and world citizenship, setting the ground for a new mindset related to space exploration and space migration.
- 28.
We can even claim that robots have already migrated to outer space, if we consider that Mars rovers will not be retrieved back to Earth (at least, as far as the close future is concerned).
- 29.
The term should be read in the deleuzian sense as becoming-outer space (Deleuze et al. 1987).
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Many thanks to Thomas Roby and Ellen Delahunty Roby for proofreading of the chapter.
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Ferrando, F. (2016). Why Space Migration Must Be Posthuman. 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_10
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