Astrobiology: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy

This unique book advances the frontier discussion of a wide spectrum of astrobiological issues on scientific advances, space ethics, social impact, religious meaning, and public policy formulation.

Astrobiology is an exploding discipline in which not only the natural sciences, but also the social sciences and humanities converge. Astrobiology: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy is a multidisciplinary book that presents different perspectives and points of view by its contributing specialists. Epistemological, moral and political issues arising from astrobiology, convey the complexity of challenges posed by the search for life elsewhere in the universe. We ask: if a convoy of colonists from Earth make the trip to Mars, should their genomes be edited to adapt to the Red Planet’s environment? If scientists discover a biosphere with microbial life within our solar system, will it possess intrinsic value or merely utilitarian value? If astronomers discover an intelligent civilization on an exoplanet elsewhere in the Milky Way, what would be humanity’s moral responsibility: to protect Earth from an existential threat? To treat other intelligences with dignity? To exploit through interstellar commerce? To conquer?

Audience
The book will attract readers from a wide range of interests including astronomers, astrobiologists, chemists, biologists, space engineers, ethicists, theologians and philosophers.

Octavio Alfonso Chon Torres, PhD is a Professor at the Universidad de Lima, Doctor in Philosophy, Doctor(c) in Education, Master in Epistemology, and Philosopher; president and founder of the Asociación Peruana de Astrobiología - ASPAST (Peruvian Astrobiology Association); Associate Member of the Astronomical International Union F3 Commission; member of the International Working Group on Astrobioethics; organizer of the IV International Congress of Astrobiology. Research topics: philosophy of astrobiology, astrobioethics, epistemology and transdisciplinarity.

Ted Peters (Ph.D., University of Chicago) teaches systematic theology and ethics at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, USA. He co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. Ted Peters is author of God--The World’s Future (Fortress, 3rd ed., 2015) and God in Cosmic History (Anselm Academic 2017). He is co-author of Evolution from Creation to New Creation (Abingdon 2002). Along with colleagues he has just edited, Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life (Cascade 2018). He has also authored a series of fiction thrillers including For God and Country, Cyrus Twelve, and The Moon Turns to Blood (Aprocryphile Press).

Richard Gordon, PhD is a theoretical biologist and retired from Department of Radiology, University of Manitoba in 2011. Presently at Gulf Specimen Marine Lab & Aquarium, Panacea, Florida and Adjunct Professor, C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth & Development, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit Michigan. Interest in exobiology (now astrobiology) dates from 1960s undergraduate work on organic matter in the Orgueil meteorite with Edward Anders. Has published critical reviews of panspermia and the history of discoveries of life in meteorites.

Joseph Seckbach, PhD from the University of Chicago and did a post doctorate in Caltech, Pasadena, California. He led a group researching exobiology (extra-terrestrial life) at UCLA and spent postdoctoral period at UCLA, Tubingen, Munich and Harvard University. Professor Joseph Seckbach has edited over 35 books for various publishers. Beyond editing academic volumes, he has published more than 140 scientific articles on plant ferritin–phytoferritin, cellular evolution, acidothermophilic algae, life in extreme environments and on astrobiology.