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Proposal for Dissertation Research BIOETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PROPERTY RIGHTS ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISCOVERY OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL BIOLOGICAL ENTITIES -- IMPLICATIONS FOR POLITICAL POLICY IN THE CONTEXT OF FUTURES STUDIES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE DECEMBER 2012 By William Robert Kramer Dissertation Committee: James A. Dator, Chairperson David C. Duffy Kathy Ferguson Debora Halbert Kim Binsted Keywords: Futures, Extraterrestrial, Bioethics, Animal Rights, Intellectual Property Rights, Taxonomy BIOETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PROPERTY RIGHTS ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISCOVERY OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL BIOLOGICAL ENTITIES -- IMPLICATIONS FOR POLITICAL POLICY IN THE CONTEXT OF FUTURES STUDIES Copyright© 2012, Some Rights Reserved William Robert Kramer ii Dedication This dissertation is humbly and sincerely dedicated to all life, wherever, whatever, and whenever it may be. iii Acknowledgments Jake Dunagan, a now-graduated fellow student of Futures Studies at the University of Hawaii, wrote in the Acknowledgments section of his dissertation, Politics for the Neurocentric Age, “When a non-scientist wades into the water of science, it can be dangerous.” The opposite is equally true. As a biologist, entering the world of political science was daunting -- a new language, culture, history and perspective on how we attempt to make sense of the world and the Universe, create something useful and hopefully better. Many have helped me in that transition. We stand on the shoulders of giants, and any worthwhile enterprise grows from the efforts of others. Jim Dator introduced me to Futures ways of thinking over 25 years ago. He ignited a curiosity that led me to return to school and has encouraged me for the past five years to always look beyond horizons. Kathy Ferguson guided me to the cliff of political theory and gave me a push -- a terrifying experience for a biologist, but she was at my side for the duration and was instrumental to my education. Debbie Halbert mapped a path for me through the thicket of intellectual property rights and its relationship to concepts of the ownership of life. Kim Binsted took me in a very different direction, showing me the diversity of space science and the practical side of the space industry. She also encouraged me to spend two weeks in the freezing mid-winter at the Mars Desert Research Station in the high desert of Utah. The experience gave me a brief glimpse at a possible future on another world and an opportunity to reflect on my project in such an inspiring setting. David Duffy, in addition to being a valued friend, helped me keep one foot in biology while stretching science to its possible limits, that dangerous ground where science and philosophy blend and become one. I am amazingly fortunate. Joan Canfield continues to provide unceasing encouragement, wise counsel and love. During those depressing mid-dissertation panics when I was questioning if the work was worth the effort, if what I was thinking was an insanity of ego or something more valuable, she knew how to help me take a breath, refocus, and know that it was worthwhile. Our daughter, Anu, now in the throes of building her own doctoral project, iv consistently reminds me of the joy and amazement of life and its unlimited potentials. Future generations are what this dissertation is all about. To my parents, Ellen and Stan, I will never be able to express enough gratitude. Lessons of perseverance and perspective coupled with love. I thank you both for allowing me the freedom to spend long days in the woods pulling bark off fallen logs to discover what was living beneath, explore the storm drains in the neighborhood and the streams where they led, and keep countless tadpoles in mayonnaise jars. You nurtured the independence that allowed me to pursue a broad range of experiences. Finally, I’d like to thank Ken Burton, a dear friend who, while now somewhere off in another dimension of space, fed my sense of the lovable absurdity and improbability of life. I hope he would approve of what I’ve done. v ABSTRACT Although the search for extraterrestrial life is a priority for NASA and other space programs, no government has policies addressing either the bioethical or property rights issues that would quickly evolve from such a discovery. This dissertation employs methods of political futures studies to examine the interrelatedness of bioethics and intellectual property rights as they might apply to extraterrestrial life, broadly defined, and proposes policy to guide the effort. Included are discussions of biological taxonomy and the related history of largely Western bioethical philosophy and concepts of life as property. It argues that these tend to arbitrarily discriminate among organisms and allocate bioethical regard based on histories of cultural practice that are inappropriate when applied to extraterrestrial entities. Commercial and scientific research interests in extraterrestrial life also have the potential to devalue bioethical regard. The political context of outer space is discussed as an appropriate stage for expanding bioethical standards based on justice and nonviolence that could potentially be applied on Earth. Theoretical work of John Rawls and others provides guidance on how the interests of extraterrestrial life as well as future generations and post-human life might be represented. Contemporary political instruments regarding management of the biological resources of global commons areas, such as the Antarctic Treaty and the International Law of the Sea, are assessed as models for creating policies guiding extraterrestrial biological discoveries within the framework provided by the Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Treaty. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... vi ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................ xiii CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 1.1 Premise, scope and goals .......................................................................................... 1 1.2 Structure .................................................................................................................... 7 1.3 Timeliness of the issue .............................................................................................. 9 1.4 Summary of observations and conclusions ............................................................. 13 CHAPTER 2 - ASTROBIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS AND THE ISSUE OF BIOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES ....................................................................................... 15 2.1 Premise .................................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Life origins .............................................................................................................. 16 2.2.1 Chemical evolution .......................................................................................... 16 2.2.2 Origin scenarios ............................................................................................... 22 2.3 The problem of defining life ................................................................................... 24 2.4 The problem of defining organisms and species..................................................... 27 2.5 Taxonomy and the creation of the Other – An issue of boundaries........................ 35 2.5.1 A Western perspective ..................................................................................... 35 2.5.2 A Buddhist perspective .................................................................................... 39 2.6 The problem of defining death ................................................................................ 40 2.7 Continuing problems of perception ........................................................................ 44 2.8 NASA and the search for definitions of extraterrestrial life ................................... 46 CHAPTER 3 - EVOLUTION OF BIOETHICAL THOUGHT IN THE CONTEXT OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENTITIES ................................................................................ 53 3.1 Premise .................................................................................................................... 53 3.2 Pertinent foundations in traditional Western ethics ................................................ 56 3.2.1 Matters of right conduct ................................................................................... 56 3.2.1.1 Socrates ...................................................................................................... 56 3.2.1.2 Aquinas ...................................................................................................... 57 vii 3.2.2 Matters of bioethics.......................................................................................... 59 3.2.2.1 Animism, vitalism, mechanism and anthropocentrism .............................. 59 3.2.2.2 Descartes .................................................................................................... 61 3.2.2.3 Locke and Hobbes...................................................................................... 63 3.2.2.4 Bentham ....................................................................................................
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