Out There No One Has a Right to Die
Abstract
The eventual goal of space exploration is to colonize exoplanets and their moons outside our solar system. This is a dangerous and immoral endeavour. The extraterrestrial life forms encountered would be hostile, vulnerable or both, and the descendants of the original pioneers would be involuntarily exposed to hazardous conditions and totalitarian regimes. They would have little or no control over their lives, reproduction, or death. Even in the unlikely event that homo sapiens, the species responsible for degrading its own home planet, could be expected to fare better in a new habitat in the future, the sacrifices thrust upon the non-consenting interim generations would be ethically unacceptable.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
Innovation
Sustainability
Human-Machine Systems
Space exploration and regulation
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Bioethics
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 565–572
- Publication date
- 21 January 2026
- Language
- EN