Astrobiology Symposium, Integrative Thinking & Exopolitics

Introductory
remarks

Between September 18 & 19,
2014, eminent natural and social scientists,
philosophers, theologians, a few members of the press and the
general public gathered in an important symposium to learn about
the latest findings and to share ideas about the implications of
discovering some form of extraterrestrial life. I took notes of
most the ideas that felt relevant. In this general review I"ll
offer some of the highlights that caught my attention followed by
personal observations attempting to promote a more integral
approach bringing together several relevant issues. Since the
discovery of extraterrestrial life would affect subsequent
cultural development, the issues raised also need to be part of
an informed "integral" academic discourse.

I want to point out that many of the ideas proposed and
exchanged at the symposium can inform and be valuable for the
development not only of public policy and cultural improvement
but also inform a serious and responsible discussion
about "exopolitics" in general.

The symposium and its deliberations about progress
in astrobiology and its implications for social
and cultural concerns was hosted by the John W. Kluge
Center of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC in
Collaboration with NASA.

The emerging field
of astrobiology (formerly known
as "exobiology") mostly developed within
conventional, socially accredited, academic institutions gave a
degree of credibility and a scientific foundation to the
symposium. It also limited the conversation to what is normally
accept within academia.

As it stands now, I think that the field is still highly
focused and informed by the methods, achievements and underlying
assumptions & metaphysics pertaining to an orthodox,
modern-materialist approach and through it academics and
government liaisons are trying to accomplish that "legitimate"
discovery of life beyond Earth. This ensures a conservative,
step-by-step classical, empirical, collegial approach away from
the complexity of wilder claims generated by individuals with a
greater margin of freedom to speculate. However, serious and even
objective evidence that doesn"t fit the norm is also being left
out.

As per its traditional natural science core,
astrobiology is currently based on several important
academically-sanctioned disciplines like astronomy, biochemistry,
cosmology, planetary science, chemistry and physics, all of which
beautifully contribute to discovering expressions of life beyond
Earth within a classically structured and understood
cosmos. The beauty and mystery of this level of research
is also astounding with their practitioners proceeding in a
conservative but also noble, careful and methodical manner we can
assimilate as an example.

In the symposium I noticed that there is an important
ongoing effort to connect academic astrobiology with other
traditional social and political forces such as the legislature.
This may be why research is being conducted at
the Library of Congress and several hearing on
the subject have also recently multiplied. I think that – on the
whole – the effort is principled and sincere but that there also
is an pointless cultural disconnect between this and other (even
if outside the main academic circuits) credible and valid
approaches to the discovery of extraterrestrial life and
extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI), all of which
should establish a serious dialogue under a more inclusive
contextual understanding to adequately and safely inform the
political process.

But what is "astrobiology?" Basically,
astrobiology has been defined (as Dr. Mary
Voytek stated during a 2013 hearing before the Committee
on Science, Space and Technology in the House of Representatives,
U.S. Congress) as "the study of the origin,
evolution, distribution, and future of life in the
universe."

Since astrobiology is dealing with the subject
of "life" I don"t think that it can be
adequately encapsulated, disclosed and interpreted only within an
either-or, materialist fashion limited to an understanding of
"modern" (usually mechanistic) science. The science, its methods
and premises and how it connects with other fields must evolve.
Furthermore, I believe that many astrobiologists are also feeling
a natural call to recognize greater conceptual connections beyond
the (partially valid) natural science approach as many are now
also conceiving the field in
an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary way.

In the symposium it was clear that many of
astrobiology"s main proponents are open to the fact that (also to
generate policy) the field needs to interact with the social
sciences and, furthermore, with ethics, metaphysics, other forms
of philosophy and theology, rendering
it "interdisciplinary" and "multidisciplinary" by
relating to qualitative aspects of "life" beyond the premises of
the physically empirical natural sciences. After my report on
some of the "highlights" (based on note-taking) I"ll attempt to
develop the idea of "transdisciplinarity."

Highlights – Day One – Saturday, September 18,
2014

Carolyn Brown: Director of scholarly
Programs and of the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of
Congress gave us a warm welcome. We learned that this center was
born from an idea by Nobel prize in Medicine Baruch S. Blumberg
and from a generous endowment by John W. Kluge. Its purpose is to
bring the finest scholars together with the nation"s political
leaders to exchange ideas.

The Honorable Lamar Smith: Representing
Texas" 21st Congressional District and serving as chairman
of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee with jurisdiction
over programs at NASA, the National Science Foundation and other
key institutions mentioned that recent explorations have shown
the possibility of finding life outside Earth; that (according to
a National Geographic poll) over 60% of Americans believe
that life exists outside of Earth and that in April an
exoplanet located at a distance where water can exist was found.
He mentioned that it had been confirmed that Mars once had liquid
water, that forms of life thriving in extreme conditions had been
found and that new explorations into the Solar System are being
scheduled. He said that the even discovery of microbes beyond
Earth would be the most newsworthy scientific story in decades
affecting the way we view ourselves in the universe. The
Science, Space and Technology Committee has been holding
more hearings than ever on astrobiology and had produced
the NASA Authorization Act providing overall
guidance for NASA including a provision to go to Europa launching
by 2021 and a way to work with the National Academy of Sciences,
coordinating long term astrobiology research. Also, coordination
with radio telescope facilities as well as new and existing space
and Earth-based telescopes and NASA is being
undertaken.

Dr. Mary Voytek: Senior astrobiology scientist at
NASA announced that in 2013 and for the first time the Curiosity
Rover had conducted a geochronology test on Mars.

Dr. Steven J. Dick: Astronomer and former
chief historian for NASA has been conducting research as
the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Chair in Astrobiology at the
Library of Congress. He basically focused on the
question of what would we actually do if we found life? What
would the impact be for society either of finding microbial or
intelligent life? I think that his focus is on
policy-making.

Highlights: This symposium is greatly about the human
and "mystic" aspect of astrobiology. He said that what it means
to be human and other cherished ideas would be impacted. He said
that the discovery of extraterrestrial life (even if microbial)
would be one of the greatest discoveries in the history of
science.

Dr. Dick mentioned that astrobiology has become a robust
discipline, with thousands of exoplanets already
discovered. He mentioned that the search for biosignatures
was a rapidly growing field and that (the search
for) "organics" on Mars, Titan, interstellar
molecular clouds and oceans such as in Europa also importantly
contributed to the field.

Dr. Dick mentioned that very important issues were at
stake as astrobiology also connects with the human genome,
nanotechnology and other areas of research that affect life. He
recommended us to read the June 2012 issue of "Astrobiology
Journal" dealing with interdisciplinarity.

Seth Shostak: Senior astronomer at SETI
Institute spoke about how we are looking for life and
what it would mean to find it.

Highlights: There are 1022 stars in the visible
universe and most (78%) have planets; that would mean roughly one
trillion planets in our Milky Way galaxy. At least 1/5 or 22%
would have an earth-size, habitable planet or 1/5 of stars would
have an earth analogue. Between 16% and 53% of red dwarf
stars may have habitable planets and 74% of all stars are red
dwarfs. Red dwarfs are long lasting and can be billions
of years older than the Sun.

"If Earth were the only one it would be a miracle and
miracles have a very low standing in science," he
remarked.

There are streaks on Mars that may be due to running
water and may have life but there are six other interesting
places to look into in the Solar System (like Titan). The
James Webb Telescope will provide absorption pictures.
We may find microbial life (jokingly called "stupid life") nearby
or afar or find life left by intelligence.

SETI cannot falsify that "they" are not out there.
Experiments and exploration can only prove that they are out
there.

Some advanced civilizations may extract energy from
their stars so that looking for signs of Dyson spheres (signs of
wasted heat) may be useful.

To consider: The time scale between developing radio
communications and thinking machines (strong AI) may be very
short so we may not find biological intelligence but rather
machine intelligence.

Regarding societal reaction: In 1977 SETI had what seems
like an interesting signal and the word was sent out but nobody
called or cared about it for many hours until a science writer
from the Washington Times called. There is no policy of
secrecy.

Given the speed of light not being fast enough for
interstellar communication, if ETI sends messages they may send a
whole package or everything they know at once so as not to wait
for a response or they may send it in careful, tentative segments
in case there are hostile ETI wanting to locate them. Thus, it
may be an information rich signal or a simple "ping" saying "hey
we are here" without sending more in case other civilizations are
hostile.

A question is: What does all of this mean for Joe
Sixpack?

Dr. Steven J. Dick (a second
intervention):

Highlights:

We have to frame the impact of discovering ETI in
context. In history there were at least 6 cases in which we
thought life had been discovered. One of them was the 1885 "Moon
hoax" in which "lunar animals" were spoken about. It was taken up
by the New York sun in satire mode. We also had the 1938
Halloween Eve Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" event in which
– in spite of the myth – there really wasn"t any great
social panic. Lessons learned: Myths and popular culture are very
difficult to correct and the sensationalist role of the media
plays into this.

One case in which even the White House became interested
was regarding the 1996 discovery of Martian rocks with alleged
nano fossils. Today we know that the Mars rocks were real but not
the microbial life.

All genuine discoveries go through an extended process
of weeks, years, perhaps decades: Detection –
Interpretation – Understanding.

In the book "Discovery and Classification of Astronomy"
regarding types of evidence there"s type one. Here would be the
direct discovery of UFOs which some people believe is evidence of
extraterrestrial life, which I don"t.

The use of analogy in cognition and in
astrobiology is very important. There"s the "microbe analogy"
extended into astrobiology. Also the "culture contact" analogy
as, for instance, the first contact analogy between American
Indians and Europeans. First contact was not so bad but it soon
devolved into warfare, conquest, disease. However, we also have
the case of admiral of the fleet Zheng He from Ming China in
which there was exploratory contact without destruction. Also,
regarding the Neanderthals, culture contacts with modern man were
not necessarily destructive. We carry Neanderthal genes. There"s
also the good case of Jesuit intervention ion America which was
not destructive. Adequate early actions are important.

There"s the analogy of decipherment/ transmission of
knowledge in which some examples (to extrapolate on) are the
transmission of Greek knowledge, the decipherment of Mayan glyphs
and the Gutenberg Bible.

We also have the "world view" analogy and, for instance,
speak about the Copernican, Darwinian, Hubble-Shapley
worldviews.

Analogy should not be so general as to be meaningless or
so specific as to be limiting restrictive. We must recognize that
the lessons of history are ambiguous.

Clement Vidal: Philosopher with a background
in logic and cognitive sciences and co-director of
the "evo-devo Universe" community and initiator
of the "starivore hypothesis."

Highlights:

Let"s think about the "silent
impact" of discovering non-communicative
extraterrestrials. According to the "principle of mediocrity" we
should assume ourselves to be average-located in the universe.
Perhaps communication is happening and we don"t notice it. There
is skepticism at its highest; scientific resistance. Scientific
revolutions take time and perhaps it is a slow discovery like
discovering agriculture but not like discovering
America.

Perhaps evidence of communication already is in our data
and we don"t see it. There is something called "Genomic SETI"
(messages encoded in our genome). There also is the "starivore
hypothesis" in which advanced civilizations are actively feeding
from their parent star to overcome entropy (as some observed
binary stars seem to exhibit an irregular but controlled
consumption).

Nine dimensions that would affect the
(social) impact of discovering
extraterrestrials: Distance from us, their degree of complexity,
their size, living state (like their use of energy), influence on
us, our knowledge of them, their knowledge of us, real intent,
communicative intent.

Impact scenarios 1) Very low impact: For
example finding an extinct primitive biosphere. 2) Very high
impact: For example detecting viruses and the reality of
panspermia. 3) Intermediate impact: For example finding
starivores (far away).

The astrobiological worldview brings benefits for
science, physics, biology, language, economics, eschatology, etc.
We need to coordinate with astrobiology as a whole; as a planet.
If we remain alone in the universe there"s no academic danger. We
need exploration.

"Silent ETs" could be microbial or advanced and remain
undetected. "Silent news" could be when impact is
diffused over many years. "Silent
absorption" impact prepared for a wide range of
scenarios.

Iris Fry: Ph.D. in the History and Philosophy of
Science.

Highlights:

There is an astrobiology
philosophy because we have presuppositions like there
being natural causes and natural laws. Epistemological distinct
claims underlie science. They cannot be tested but give direction
to theoretical and experimental study.
Two astrobiological presuppositions are the
Copernican assumption and the Darwinian assumption.

We have no answers yet of ET life exists and no answer
as to the origin of life on Earth.

Crucially, the scientific study depended on overcoming
traditional teleological – theological reasoning.
Copernicanism was a necessary but not sufficient condition for
the future scientific study of ET life.
Both pluralism and anti-pluralism were
prompted by theological reasons; the latter was prompted both by
anthropocentrism and theological reasons.

Even some scientists like Alfred R. Wallace postulated
that life & mind were produced only on Earth by a superior
intelligence. Then there"s "rare earth hypothesis" by D. Brownlee
(2000) even if this hypothesis assumes the Copernican-Darwinian
worldviews. There"s also the "privileged Planet Hypothesis" of
Guillermo Gonzales & J. Richards based on "Intelligent
Design."

There is still some skepticism against the scientific
status of astrobiology sometimes called "a discipline without a
substance."   But in the history of science many
unknowns became knowns.

Philosophical assumptions making universal claims cannot
be tested. Also, supernatural claims present a scientific
dead-end.

Astrobiology has an important role of enlightening the
public as a common "we" on the planet. Also, science is not a
body of definitive statements.

Then a conversation ensued. Shostak: There"s
no national or international organization dealing with
astrobiology. Maybe a small office at the UN should be set;
otherwise what are we doing here? Dick: Early actions
are important. Shostak: The government would not
provide funds for an organization like this. With SETI there"s no
problem; the problem is to find support for the societal
implications. If biota is found on Mars, should we colonize it?
There"s no organization to decide upon that. Interesting
audience comment: How could astrobiology lead in relation to
our own contact with earth animals? We also share life with other
consciousnesses. What is we find an "animal" or beings without
radio telescopes (advanced technology) on other planets? I see a
big gap on how our framework focuses so much on microbes &
human-like intelligences only.

Second audience comment: Astrobiology
basically is about microbes and SETI about finding intelligent
life; let"s not conflate them. Third audience
comment: Regarding the discoveries of extremophiles on
Earth and astrobiology, how many people care about these
discoveries? Fourth audience comment: Is there a
body looking at the definition of "life" or at the definition of
"intelligence?" Fifth audience comment: Let"s
study how to communicate with animals like dolphins to try to
communicate with aliens during first
contact. Dick: I agree. Sixth audience
comment: Maybe intelligent life is hiding from us and we
are in a quarantine. Shostak: We still study
ants that engage in wars with each other; also we don"t really
know. So, how may we be viewed by intelligent
life? Dick: There"s a former State Department
person (Michael A.G. Michaud) who wrote a book on
extraterrestrial contact policy. Reading it is
recommended.

Dirk Schulze- Makuch: Professor in the
School for the Environment at Washington State University. He was
awarded by the Humboldt Foundation for achievements in
theoretical biology.

Highlights:

In the "landscape of life" there"s a
range of temperatures and pressures and radiation grays (absorbed
radiation doses) for different earth organisms, for instance
tardigrades can live from -273 centigrade to + 151 centigrade and
from no pressure up to 6,000 bar of pressure living under
cryptobiosis and anhydrobiosis. Some microbes can take up to
10,000 grays (absorbed radiation levels).

Can some organisms use hydrogen peroxide or perchlorates
to adapt in Mars? These substances have a lower freezing point.
The horny devil – a desert animal – has hygroscopic
grooves.

In Europa in the absence of a light source there could
be salinity gradients as energy sources and there could be
osmotrophs. In Titan there could be catalytic hydrogenation of
acetylene. Perhaps the large amount of methane in Titan is due to
this. In Titan membranes could use silane as building blocks.
Polysilanes are solid.

Thermal synthesis may be a precursor to photosynthesis
even on Earth.

Life on planets around neutron stars might have
alternative genetic codes based on alignments of magnetic moments
in variable directions. In some exoplanets there could be a
community genetic organism such as bacteria in Australia forming
sponge-like structures. There could be a type of "swarm"
intelligence with collective decisions that imitate
neurons.

In conclusion, biology can also be much more
diverse that normally thought.

Lori Marino: Neuroscientist and expert on
animal behavior and intelligence.

Highlights:

Astrobiology has missed a component: Intelligence
considerations. What is
intelligence? Intelligence is a fuzzy concept. There"s
no consensus. It requires description. How an individual uses
information. Why is the evolution of intelligence missing in
astrobiology? In the formula to calculate the number of
civilizations we use as standard for intelligence human
intelligence and think that it is superior to other types; that
it is qualitatively different.

Darwin showed that a value of 1 for intelligence (i) on
Earth is a scientific impossibility. The concept of "scala
naturae" in which human is superior also leads to a
cycle of circular thinking. Shall we use it to deal with
ETI?

All nervous systems require cell
membranes which are key to detect and analyze input and
to have  adaptive behavior responses. Membranes use ways to
process cation influx through sodium-dependent channels. All
neurons look the same and characteristic of vertebrate brains are
bilateralization, centralization and cephalization.

Similarities come from genes in previous
organisms. Evolution is highly
conservative. Only some animals display "mirror
self-cognition": Some birds, magpies, chimpanzees, dogs, dolphins
and other primates. Tool-making also occurs in the animal
kingdom: Birds, octopus, bonobos, monkeys but on the same
spectrum, there"s a biological continuity that allows humans to
build spaceships.

Thus, the human brain doesn"t have to be a unique case
as all central nervous systems adhere to the same basic plan
unchanged for 600 million years. Intelligence is an
inherent characteristic of life on Earth.

Carlos Mariscal: Post-doctoral fellow at the
Centre for Comparative Genomics & Evolutionary
Bioinformatics.

Highlights:

All life on Earth is related to other life on
Earth so how can we relate it to life outside of Earth?
Even if we tried to create synthetic life it still is in the same
epistemic situation.  There"s a limited sample size to
consider it universal. There"s biological
provincialism.

People often jump from skepticism about certain claims
to denial.

We need to know more because explanations are more
important if backed by universal principles. We can justify
universal claims a priori, independent from observation like in
logic, geometry, probability theory or by natural necessity,
necessitated by the laws of physics or chemistry applied to
biology everywhere.

We need to consider the importance of initial set-up
states or of the historical contingency of more recent states in
a system. A universal biology pertains
to evolutionary generalizations whose justification
doesn"t assume contingent facts about Earth"s
history. For example, will all life use the same genetic
code? No, it would be a historical contingent claim.

We"ve seen (on Earth) that hereditary information is
digital, not analogue but could it be the same for all cases
outside Earth? So what candidates for biological generalizations
do we have?

Conclusion: Skepticism about claims for a universal
biology is justified but biological provincialism is
not.

John W. Traphagan: Anthropologist and Professor
in the Dept. of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at
Austin.

Highlights:

We work with simplistic models about civilization and
culture. How do notions of "progress" affect the
scientific imagination? Earth is our only example. So
what do we really mean by "ETI" and "civilization?"
Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai states that the imaginative
activity is an organized field of social practices.

Science is embedded in culture, values, technologies,
paradigms. It limits what an ET civilization might be like. When
Italian astronomer observed Mars he mentioned "canali" which
could have been interpreted as "channels" not necessarily
implying artificially built "canals" but in the socio-cultural
milieu there was an interest in mapping and then Lowell sold a
vision of a civilization on Mars.

The idea of "cultural evolution" found in Louis Henry
Morgan (and also on Weber and Durkheim) was also a product of its
era. Morgan in particular used value-laden words like "savagery"
moving into "barbarism" and finally into
"civilization." The SETI imaginary is also shaped by the
idea of cultural evolution.

Change is real but moral evolution is doubtful. How do
you define moral values? They are inventions of
cultures.

Are societies with diffuse power less civilized? Is
there less hatred today than in the past? Gangs can still be seen
as tribal organizations and school team logos as
totems.

We also project social Darwinism on "them" (ETI):
From an imagined human civilization to an imagined ET
civilization based on ethnocentric human values about progress
and time which is a Western construct like the eternal
post-mortem state & eschatology as utopia or punishment. But
Buddhist philosophy doesn"t think like that: It"s cyclical; only
change. To get out is to get out of the cycle.

There"s also the idea of ETI in Western
imaginary tendency as an altruistic, progressive, unitary
civilization. It is an Euro-American construct.

During a Q & A session I basically asked why
didn"t scientists went to specific locations  and perform
objective field research on UFOs some of which were truly
"anomalous" indicating intelligence. Dr. Dirk Schulze-Makuch
briefly replied that as scientists they need to look at things in
the lab.

My question didn"t prosper as the possibility of
elaborating was quickly shifted when another question from the
audience came mentioned something about competition and natural
selection as the only mechanism we know.

Reply by Dirk Schulze-Makuch: In life
there"s collaboration and competition – both – and
collaboration is more.  Then someone made a comment
about "synthetic evolution" and Dirk
Schultze-Makuch replied something to the effect that that one
basically needs a nucleotide, a member and equilibrium. Then the
informational system supports the network.

Why bonobos don"t build spaceships? We are not
qualitatively different and we need to see that continuity. I
don" think intelligence fits into boxes.

John W. Traphagan commented to the effect
that science was culturally defined and that he didn"t think
there was only one path to scientific inquiry and someone from
the audience commented that, although progress and such
ideas have created a mess it doesn"t follow that there is not
something like that to which Iris
Fry replied that we needed to look at the
phylogeny.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch commented that he
thought we were freaks since there"s no need for most animals to
be so intelligent. Then Iris Fry said that
bilateralism may not be a good candidate for a universal biology
principle. Someone from the audience asked if one got a message
where would that fit with all this and Dirk
Schulze-Makuch asked if there were a more advanced
species that might already know we are here would it want to
communicate with us?  Someone in the audience mentioned that
perhaps they follow the "prime
directive" and John W.
Traphagan replied that we will undoubtedly
interpret any message within our cultural context. He
said that if ET life is found there will be lots of
impacts, not "one" impact. He also said that he thought
that any kind of generalized policy for contact would be
hard to find and that we don"t have any evidence that
other civilizations have progressed.

Finally Lori Marino asked how
do we pick up that which is essential rather than accidental from
a biological population we encounter?

And the symposium for Saturday, September 18 basically
ended with that note…

Highlights – Day Two – Sunday September 19,
2014

Dr. Steven J. Dick:

Highlights (introductory words):

Astrobiology used to be called the "science without a
subject." Now it includes social science professionals. Science
and technology are both drivers of society.

Where there is water, there could be life. Yesterday
frameworks and foundations were given for today"s philosophical
discussions. A book will be expanded with the inclusion of more
non Western-centric approaches, mostly religious.

Mark Lupisella: Works on NASA"s Human Spaceflight
Architecture Team and leads Goddard"s Advanced Exploration
Systems Support for Human Exploration. He is co-editor
of Cosmos and Culture: Cultural evolution in a Cosmic
Context with previous NASA chief historian Steven Dick.
He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology.

Highlights:

Do we have cosmic hubris? Can we credibly
explore cosmic roles for life & intelligence?

Life can be "intelligent" without much awareness. The
idea of Darwinian evolution would be very single-minded
but human intelligence seems to display non-darwinian
behaviors.

Much of culture is arguably shaped by evolution and
evolutionary psychology but cultural change is moving
beyond biological evolution.

What is valuable? There"s a need to explore Meta
ethics.

We do have normative aspirations. Do facts and values =
wisdom? There is a fact-value interplay.

Facts & science may undermine the values we aspire
to but do facts forever constrain values or there is an infinite
possibility space for values?

We can think of facts (F) and values (V) as separate; F
and V as partially intersecting; F and V as greatly intersecting;
F and V as completely fused; F subsuming V; V dominant over F;
and V subsuming F.

Is it true that the more developed a being is, the
more values subsume facts?

Regarding cosmocultural evolution, do
we co-evolve if as beings we become more capable?

Types of cosmocultural influence? 1. Planetary influence
2. Astrophysical 3. Cosmological 4. Ontological 5.
Metaphysical.

It"s very confusing to look at and interpret human
behavior either looking from the outside or from the inside.
Intelligent and capable life could be dangerous. Normative
aspirations may or may not be pursued by ETI. Does ETI become
trapped by selfishness?

Is there a "post-intelligence" universe in which values
are more important?

How do we view diversity? Diversity is key
to the discussion. Values could also be enormously
diverse.

Carol Cleland & Espeth Wilson: Cleland
is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado Was a
member of NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) and specializes in
philosophy of science, philosophy of logic and metaphysics.
Wilson is a doctoral candidate in Political Science at the
University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include
bioethics, ethics and public policy, American political
development, civil rights political philosophy and constitutional
law.

Highlights:

Wilson: Public policy & law must be
informed if we encounter aliens. Would they be considered
like non-human animals? Can we move beyond our
anthropocentric concepts and assumptions? Remember the movie
"District 9" where an ET craft shows up in South Africa. They are
not too unlike us but are subjected to a discriminatory treatment
like apartheid.

We need to know our background facts and assumptions
influencing our assessments.

We share a common evolutionary origin. The problem with
N=1 is that we cannot safely generalize to other life in the
universe. How do we even begin to ask the right ethical
questions?

Science alone cannot answer these ethical questions.
Remember Max Weber"s facts/value distinction. However, facts are
morally significant. Regarding the physical and behavioral
characteristics of organisms, we cannot isolate them from their
environment and think clearly about them.

Astrobiology is a
new frontier in bioethics

How would finding ETI shape our conceptions? How
do we judge an ETI as having moral value?

Moral agents: Some entities have moral
status including an unimpaired human being. Moral agents also
distinguish right from wrong and can be held
accountable. Moral patients: Like small children
and ill people deserve moral consideration but cannot necessarily
be held responsible.

Most definitions of "life" are earth-centric. Most
ethical theories are anthropocentric.

There actually is an animal rights movement for instance
as proposed by Peter Singer and Tom Ranger. The
utilitarian Jeremy Bentham didn"t discount animals as
worthy of moral consideration. They can suffer. The faculty
of reason or if they can talk is not as important.

Carol Cleland: Some characteristics to be
taken as a moral subject are intelligence, social
behavior, sentience as capacity to feel pleasure or pain and the
possession of an immortal soul.

Our species is treated as the standard for judging moral
status by similarities…looks. Remember the "horta" from a
Star Trek episode? It"s a blob but is sentient, shows
parental concern, intelligence and when that is found out it
immediately acquired moral status.

Would the "Borg" with a hive
intelligence be an ambiguous case or acquire moral
status?

Also think of the cuttlefish. It doesn"t have human
looks but it is highly social and displays what appears like an
alien communication system by changing colors and patterns over
its surface. Is it a non-linear language? Are they sentient?
Without a "Vulcan mind meld" it would be impossible to
know.

Bees also have a hive social structure and – to us – an
alien communication system. A "horta" analogue could be the
octopus. They are solitary but display intelligent behavior, even
tool making but we ignore their moral status in real
life.

Constance M. Bertka: Holds a Master of
Theological Studies and a PhD in Geology and is Co-Chair of the
Broader Social Impacts Committee of the National Museum of
Natural History"s Hall of Human Origin"s.  

Highlights:

Is there a "super alien
intelligence?" Perhaps once a species develops a
technology that puts them in touch with the cosmos
they move from biology to Artificial Intelligence
(AI).

AI has more advantages. Creatures could upload their
minds. Agnostics would specially like to do this. A global
catastrophe may make a world inhospitable to biological life
forms so they"ll need to become AI or to upload.

The "hard problem" of consciousness needs to be taken
into consideration. Beyond manipulation of data there is a felt
quality to experience. Would a super intelligent alien being, a
computational system have felt experience?

Susan Schneider:

According to John Searl"s "biological
naturalism" the capacity to be conscious is unique to
biological organisms. Other creatures would be able to behave as
if they were conscious, but not be so. In the same way we can"t
be sure that the person next to us is conscious. We would neither
know this about aliens if we meet them. If the information
processing capacity is uploaded the behavior would be the
same.

However, why wouldn"t a superior substrate for
information processing also be better for being
conscious?

Nick Bostrom mentions that intelligence and final goals
are orthogonal. This means that any level of intelligence could
be combined with any final goal but it would be dangerous. AI
could end up with several different goals.

I propose the possibility of "BISAS" or
Biologically – inspired super intelligence
aliens based on reversed engineering the alien brain. It
could include uploading. They could have final goals including
their own survival. They may or may not want to change their
basic architecture to preserve their identity.

Most advanced alien civilizations will likely be super
intelligent. Super intelligence can be conscious even as forms of
AI. They can have ultimate goals and also instrumental
goals.

Guy Consolmagno, SJ: Guy is a Jesuit
brother, President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation,
astronomer and meteoricist.

Highlights:

In a September 2012 lecture being given in Ireland Guy
was asked if he would baptize an extraterrestrial.  He knew
the questioner was trying to make him look stupid. If he replied
"yes" he would be accused of hubris. If he replied "no" it would
mean that Catholicism would have no universal
significance.

Thomas Paine said that the inevitable existence of life
in other worlds ends Christianity or would Jesus only be born on
Earth? But who"s to say that all salvation stories are
the same?

If they are self-aware beings, free to choose,
free to love, free to hate and thus in need of some kind of
redemption. Other creatures may not only be (held by?)
the same laws of physics, chemistry but presumably by the same
rights and wrongs.

If we can share and relate and cherish and love them
and if they have free will and intelligence and also asked to be
baptized then I would.

No matter how many times I"ve answered if I would
baptize an extraterrestrial people keep asking.

The possibility of other God-fearing intelligences out
there exists.

Maybe we are the most ethical creatures. Who"s to know?
If you come across a race that never sinned how do we know that
they have the freedom to choose between right &
wrong?

I received an e mail demanding I tell the Pope that
aliens are better.

Science cannot prove religion and finding aliens would
reinforce both atheism and religiosity.

If humanity is the center of God"s love then is the rest
of the universe not? I don"t think so, because love is
inclusive. If human love is inclusive, how much more
would God"s love be? Maybe it"s about something that we
have in common with the rest of the universe: loving, thinking,
feeling, free willing. What God loves in us God also loves in the
universe.

The question is: Are we willing to accept other
intelligent beings in the universe? Being intelligent
requires relating.

Robin W. Lovin: Director of Research at the
Center of Theological Inquiry and Professor of Ethics Emeritus at
Southern Methodist University.

Highlights:

The "image of God" relates to human
dignity. Sense of duty. Theology is always embedded in a
tradition. It is an interpretative discipline to make sense of
reality as a whole and to provide direction. The idea of the
"image of God" is found in the Islamic, Christian and Hebrew
traditions.

In astrobiology are we only talking about human dignity?
The only kind we know? As in N=1?

Analogy and theology…Theology is also affected by
anthropocentrism but God is not in Man"s image. What can be said
about God without reducing it to human experience?

For Agustin freedom is an interplay of reason, will,
memory. There"s a tradition of analogical theological thinking, a
likeness of beings in God. There"s the presumption of
dignity in any intelligent life discovered.

Given that we have still not detected alien life there
might be a technical difficulty, but there must be a dignity
theme to think about, a presumption of dignity.  Also, any
ETI would be in a cultural expression built on top of a
biological infrastructure. Cultures and civilizations share the
dignity of persons.

The mandate about dominion over earth creatures does not
extend to other worlds, civilizations and forms of life. For
astrobiology its necessary to known that life itself has
dignity. Theological interpretations about life may reflect
how we treat other life and intelligent life.

(Then I recorded a dialogue that ensued) Susan
Schneider asked Would you baptize a non-biological
being? Cleland: Octopus don"t exhibit compassion but they
do curiosity and they are not social. Elspeth
Wilson: Secular law is also important. It"s important to
recognize secularism in all this and also to protect different
theological worldviews. Consolmagno: Skeptical
about computers being "intelligent" as to baptize them. Rather,
they"ve gotten clever over time. Lovin: The
problem with a secular ethics is that the use of language is
shrinking. Bertka: Science is not just facts.
It"s done in a community. It"s a process open to
revision. Elspeth Wilson: No, science is a quest
to discover facts. Maybe AI will or will not have
values.

Audience comment: Some scientists think that
we need carbon-based (for intelligence) with the use of cellular
membranes but also D"amasio says it won"t matter if behavior is
alike.

Then, Mexican reporter Jaime Mausan –
well known for his dedicated research on UFOs – asked brother
Consolmagno if the Church was continuing with a disclosure of the
ETI presence or preparing people for it, something that started
with Monsignor Corrado Balducci, was apparently followed by
Vatican astronomer Funes. Consolmagno basically
answered that his statements were his own and that he wasn"t
aware of anything like that. Furthermore, he said that after
having met the Pope his guess was that he had no position on that
subject and that he probably didn"t care about it.

Consolmagno: The past is alien to us, also
the future. We may learn new ways to approach physics, laws,
sociology even if they remain the same.

 Jane Maienschein: Directs the Center
for Biology and Society in the school of Life Sciences at Arizona
State University. Specializes in the history and philosophy of
biology and how biology, bioethics and biopolicy play out in
society.

Highlights:

Astrobiology was not considered "scientific" in 1966.
See NASA"s "Roadmap" from 1999. Among other goals there was the
goal of understanding how life arose on Earth and to understand
the response of terrestrial life to life and materials coming
from outer space.  Astrobiology needs foeld work in space.
How do we control conditions? Are extremophiles
"astro?"

ET life impact on Earth & issues of astrobiology and
society: 1) Regulatory policy ("planetary protection")
relates with the possibility of an invasive species and the
social psychological impact on Earth. 2) Life that goes
into space. 3) Studying life in space: field work, robotic? 4)
Epistemological considerations. 5) Ethical, social impact
on us and "them." 6) Environmental impact.

Is there anything new under the Sun? Steven Dick said
so. Astrobiology evokes a sense of awe & wonder. For
science: Add the social questions and examine underlying
assumptions. For society: Examine what it means to be ethical
after all.

Margaret Race: Senior scientist at SETI
Institute in Mountain View, CA. Works with NASA on astrobiology,
planetary protection and risk communication.

There are different views of the ET puzzle. We need
a framework to analyze & integrate all of
what we are talking about. For this we have the 1967
Outer Space Treaty.

It"s important to consider the impact to us and
by us.

What is involved in current ET searches? Basic science
and applied science, looking for evidence everywhere they can.
The way astrobiologists are looking for ET life
is: Detecting intelligent technologies, habitable
exoplanets, and microbial life.