Abstract Large-scale, self-sufficient space colonization is a plausible means of efficiently reducing existential risks and ensuring our long-term survival. But humanity is by and large myopic, and as an intergenerational global public good, existential risk reduction is systematically undervalued, hampered by intergenerational discounting. This paper explores how these issues apply to space colonization, arguing that the motivational and psychological barriers to space colonization are a special—and especially strong—case of a more general problem. The upshot is not that large-scale, self-sufficient space colonization will never occur, but that, absent institutional change, the conditions under which it is most likely to occur are precisely those conditions where the threat of suffering risks might be most high.
Highlights Large-scale, self-sufficient space colonization is important in existential risk mitigation. Psychological factors, are impediments to to space colonization when used as a hedge against existential risks. Large-scale, self-sufficient space colonization is most likely to when suffering risks are most high. To avoid these problems, longtermist ideas must be integrated into our citizenry and political institutions.
Discounting, Buck-Passing, and Existential Risk Mitigation: The Case of Space Colonization
Space Policy ; 60
2022-02-13
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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