Using the Program Guide of the World Science
Fiction Convention in San Jose, California in August 2018 (to which I will be
unable to go (until I retire from education)), I will jump off, jump on, rail against,
and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the
Program Guide. The link is provided below where this appeared on pages 75-76.
Ethical Responsibilities to Alien Life
Extraterrestrial life could be anything
from microbes to “advanced” intelligence. How would
different forms of life fit into our ethical systems? What responsibilities -
or opportunities – do we have when encountering the alien?
Benjamin C. Kinney:
Author, neuroscientist, and the Assistant Editor of the online science fiction
magazine Escape Pod
Guy Consolmagno:
The Vatican’s astronomer…superb!
Eric Schwitzgebel:
American philosopher and professor of Philosophy
Gonzalo Munevar: Retired
university professor, philosophy of science, author
Ina Roy-Faderman: Author,
teacher of poetry, fiction, biomedical ethics, philosophy of science, serves as
an associate fiction editor
This must have
been a fascinating discussion – one I’ve pondered long as well.
While reflecting
on this earlier this morning, I figured we’re quite clear about what to do with
microscopic organisms: kill them.
Our society is
adept at blasting anything smaller than us – prions, viruses, single-celled
organisms, multi-cellular “larger” organisms, BIG multicellular organisms…our psychology,
physiology, soul, mind (and whatever other divisions you believe in) is to
destroy.
Now most in the SF
world would cry, “Not ME! I would welcome lifeforms in all their wondrous
forms!”
The hue and cry
against anti-vaxxers should speak eloquently against THAT objection. “No, no,
NOT diseases! There are some things I draw the line at! I would welcome any
OTHER alien lifeform, but, naturally not diseases…”
Naturally. But then,
if it’s an alien, how would we know?
In Gregory Bear’s award-winning
short story/novella/novel, “Blood Music” (I read it in ANALOG), an artificially
created organism intentionally injected by its creator, reproduces until there
are trillions and they are self-aware. I don’t know about you, but I shudder at
the thought. Heinlein’s THE PUPPETMASTERS is another take on a slightly larger,
though equally creepy organism that takes over Human higher functions, leaving
the “animal” to take care of the rest. STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE countered
that meme with the Trill and their benevolent (usually) “symbionts”. Even so,
there were some Humans who weren’t really thrilled with the idea even though
the symbionts could only occupy a (usually) voluntary host. ANALOG writer Dean
Ing looked at a similar situation in “Anasazi” in which parasitic aliens eat
the brains of kids and control the bodies until they get too big…
How about Michael Crichton’s
first novel, ANDROMEDA STRAIN? There’s an alien life form that kills Humans. We
never get to the point where we know if they were an invading force or a simple
infection. Would it matter? If it makes us sick and kills Humans, then it is,
by definition, “bad”.
Bigger? The aliens
from ALIEN – all they’re doing is reproducing as they have always done. What
gives Humans the right to object to their form of reproduction? Why does it
give us the creeps when big aliens use us the way the ichneumon wasp uses
caterpillars? “Well, because we’re intelligent and caterpillars aren’t!”
More recently? Ted
Chiang’s short story, “The Story of Your Life” was (basically rewritten) into
the movie, “Arrival” – in it, the aliens come to help us, but MOST of us don’t
like them and several actively try and blow them to smithereens. Despite that and
once we discover that they have an entirely different perception of time, we
all get along together and everything’s hunky dory…or not. Did they invade
Earth…or not? How would we know?
Honestly? On the
planet I live on, we don’t consider questions like this. Not in any real way. “How
would different forms of life fit into our ethical systems?” Simple answer,
based on what I’ve seen? They don’t. In fact, “our ethical systems” implies
that we HAVE ethical systems. Most of the people I know pretty much have one
way of looking at the world: “Get out of my way. Gimme that.”
“What
responsibilities - or opportunities – do we have when encountering the alien?”
Again, as a world, with the exception of maybe the five people on the panel and
a couple of observers, the response would be, “None whatsoever. My and my…family/spouse/pet/house/neighborhood/POSSIBLY
city (though a “city” is unlikely as the Human mind can typically grasp about
1000 objects with any kind of clear comprehension).
Individuals might
differ, we’ve certainly made a case for the “fact” that scientists will lead
the way in the consideration of taking wise responsibilities for the Human race
and only do what’s best for both without hesitation and because all scientists
are inherently full of wisdom because…“science”.
At any rate, I don’t
see us as Humanity responding any differently to aliens than we respond to
anyone else we don’t agree with: variously and spontaneously, without any CONSIDERATION
of ethics.
Program Book: https://www.worldcon76.org/images/publications/WC76_PocketProgram_2018_Final_WEB08152018.pdf
Image: https://pics.me.me/aliens-admit-to-waiting-several-decades-before-responding-to-earths-6306883.png
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