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Life Sciences

Virginia Commonwealth University

Series

2009

Bioethics; life-centered ethics; biotic ethics; panbiotic ethics; generic engineering; biophilia; life in space; astroethics

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Life-Centered Ethics And The Human Future In Space, Michael Noah Mautner Jan 2009

Life-Centered Ethics And The Human Future In Space, Michael Noah Mautner

Chemistry Publications

In the future, human destiny may depend on our ethics. In particular, biotechnology and expansion in space can transform life, raising profound questions. Guidance may be found in Life-centered ethics, as biotic ethics that value the basic patterns of organic gene/protein life, and as panbiotic ethics that always seek to expand life. These life-centered principles can be based on scientific insights into the unique place of life in nature, and the biological unity of all life. Belonging to life then implies a human purpose: to safeguard and propagate life. Expansion in space will advance this purpose but will also raise …