How Going to Space Changes the Debate About Radical Human Enhancement.

Area of Science:

• Human evolution
• Space exploration
• Bioethics

Background:

• Humanity faces a future requiring space settlement for survival and thriving.
• Current human capacities may be insufficient for long-term extraterrestrial existence.
• Previous ethical considerations of human enhancement may not apply to space colonization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To predict the necessity of radical human enhancement for space settlement.
• To re-evaluate the morality and prudential rationality of human enhancement in an extraterrestrial context.
• To propose a framework for assessing necessary vs. unnecessary radical enhancements for space colonization.

Main Methods:

• Philosophical analysis of human enhancement.
• Ethical reasoning regarding extraterrestrial colonization.
• Conjectural framework development for enhancement assessment.

Main Results:

• Radical human enhancement is predicted as essential for space survival, unlike for Earth-bound populations.
• The prudential rationality and morality of enhancement differ significantly between terrestrial and extraterrestrial contexts.
• A method is proposed to differentiate between required and rejectable radical enhancements for space settlers.

Conclusions:

• Committing to a spacefaring future necessitates radical human enhancement.
• Ethical and practical assessments of human enhancement must be context-dependent (Earth vs. space).
• Progress on intractable ethical disputes may be achievable through the lens of space colonization.