Positive Cosmic Redundancy Principle and the Moral Value of Becoming a Multiplanetary Species
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55613/jeet.v36i1.205Keywords:
Space colonization, positive and negative longterminism, cosmic bet argument , cosmic escapism, planetary bioethicsAbstract
After a period that could be described as a winter of human space exploration, the 1990s and the early twenty-first century have inaugurated a renewed season of expansion. On the one hand, this space spring has unfolded through the deployment of landers and rovers across the Solar System, the use of next-generation telescopes to detect potentially habitable exoplanets, the entry of new geopolitical actors, and the increasing involvement of private companies such as SpaceX. On the other hand, momentum has grown around projects aimed at establishing permanent human outposts on the Moon and Mars and eventually pursuing terraforming and colonization. Within this evolving landscape, the prospect of human settlement beyond Earth has moved from the realm of science fiction to that of scientific and technological feasibility. Around this possibility, the ethical debate has polarized into two prevailing opposing orientations: cosmic expansionism, which views space colonization as a promising avenue to secure humanity’s long-term flourishing and cosmological potential; and earthism, which warns that off-world expansion may magnify future harms or foster planetary neglect. Drawing on the emerging framework of planetary bioethics, which emphasizes the primacy of Earth’s ecological integrity as a normative anchor for any technological or cosmological aspiration, this article reconstructs the main lines of the debate and proposes a third theoretical and moral view construed around the positive cosmic redundancy principle (CRP). Indeed, building on the Cosmic Bet Argument, that is the preferability to bet on the cosmic importance of our species, it defends a model of positive cosmic redundancy: investments in space-related research and technologies can be ethically justified—and even desirable—so long as they are not motivated by escapism or substitutionism, but are instead guided by principles of prudence, planetary responsibility, and long-term moral foresight. Under this view, off-world expansion may contribute to humanity’s cosmic resilience, yet its legitimacy remains strictly conditional on reinforcing—rather than weakening—our obligations toward the only planet that presently sustains us. Against this backdrop, the article also proposes a set of criteria to effectively apply the principle of positive cosmic redundancy, as well as a discussion regarding its effectiveness in evaluating space programs such as Artemis and other space missions
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