What is it about?
The question of whether or not earthlings should colonize Mars is exacerbated by the hostile conditions space travelers will confront: radiation exposure that threatens life; diminished gravity causing loss of bone strength; an alien surface atmosphere requiring cocoon living; and isolation from ongoing Earth history. If planners of a permanent Mars colony elect to create a posthuman species to populate the Red Planet, could CRISPR gene editing speed up adaptive evolution? To prevent interplanetary sin transfer, could genetic engineering pre-program virtue and altruism into the future Martian community? This essay concludes: if a biosphere already exists on Mars, we should treat it as having intrinsic value; but if Mars is currently lifeless, then, despite interplanetary sin transfer, we should take advantage of the opportunity to seed the Red Planet with life borrowed from Earth.
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Why is it important?
Enthusiasm for traveling to Mars is growing. The scientific and technological challenges are immense, yet terrestrial can-do-ism affirms that we will rise to the challenge. This challenge may require genetically modifying astronaut DNA. This will include germline modification, which has been a no-no so far on Earth. Will the extraterrestrial context change our ethics?
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We ate the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley, California, sponsor research programs, cultivate good teaching, and offer public service.
Prof Ted F Peters
Graduate Theological Union
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Evolving from Earthlings into Martians?, January 2020, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-42036-9_16.
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