Towards an ethics of the spatial era

FORMAT | Poster paper

LANGUAGE | English

HOW TO CITE| SANDU, Antonio (2016). Towards an ethics of the spatial era. Prezentata la 13th World Congres of Bioethics, IAB 2016, 14-17 June, Edinburgh.

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ABSTRACT:

The Sci-Fi Star Trek movies series propose a so-called prime directive, an ethical regulation which guides the relationships between humans and extra-terrestrial civilizations. It restricts any cultural relationships with civilizations incapable of light-speed space travel. The prospect of a close spatial era of humanity opened the way to utopias that are based on a cosmic humanity.
An ethical analysis of the previous experiences of the clash of civilizations can be made. It seems that an encounter between a technologically-developed civilization and an under-developed one is unfavourable for the latter and could lead to its complete annihilation. However, such an experience doesn’t justify a prime directive as a fundament of an ethics of the spatial era.
A review can be made of a series of theoretical grounds of the possibility of an ethics of the spatial era, questioning: Can the debut of the spatial era be considered a moment of singularity similar, and parallel with that of the emergence of consciousness to non-human entities?
We sustain a perspective that the access to technology, as long as the moral consciousness of that civilization doesn’t include the ethical evaluation of technologies, can create the premise of self-destruction for that civilization.
Our conclusion refers to the need for an ethical framework for the spatial era that would precede the very transition of humanity to the level of civilization imposed by the spatial era. We extend the need for a new ethics relating to technologies based on shared responsibility towards non-present entities.

KEYWORDS:

ethics, spatial era, emergence of consciousness.