El espacio es ya el nuevo far-west. Un lugar abierto donde aun no hay leyes firmes. Donde no hay policia.
pero...
En we-make-money-not-art Regine comenta hoy que un tal Patrick Lin de un think tank llamado Nanoethics Group in Santa Barbara esta reclamando por una fuerza policial espacial.
Lin dice que temas como la polución en el espacio, la proliferación de tecnologías militares en el espacio y la seguridad de pasajeros de viajes espaciales se tendrá que considerar. "¿Hemos aprendido lo suficiente sobre nosotros y nuestra historia para evitar los mismos errores que hemos cometido sobre la tierra?"
Imagen: Space Man. Del extraordinario sitio Dreams of Space
28.4.06
Policias Espaciales
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Cosmic cops part of ethical plan for space
Anna Salleh
ABC Science Online
Friday, 28 April 2006
Space explorers have been urged to consider the implications of exploring the cosmos before taking another leap for mankind (Image: iStockphoto)
We will need an intergalactic police force to keep order in space and protect the interests of the vulnerable, says a US ethicist.
Dr Patrick Lin, of the The Nanoethics Group in Santa Barbara, California, says we should be thinking about the ethical implications of future space exploration. And some kind of government or police force should be considered.
He will tell the International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles next week that it is not clear that an Earth-based government would be the most effective.
"Space has been long called 'the final frontier', but have we taken the time to consider what our responsibilities are as 'frontiersmen'?" says Lin.
Lin's recommendations are part of a call for space explorers to look before taking another leap for mankind.
Commercial space travel is becoming a reality, he says, and the public needs confidence that governments, scientists and astronauts are considering the consequences of exploring space.
For instance, Lin says we need a fair process for commercialising or claiming property in space to avoid what he calls the kind of "chaotic land-grab" that occurred with internet domain names.
"We would not rush to develop the south pole without a well-thought plan, so the same reasonable precaution would seem to apply to colonising space," he says.
There he says there are legal disputes already.
Despite UN treaties declaring space as commonly-owned, he says lawsuits have been filed to lay claim to asteroids.
Why are we doing it anyway?
Lin says it is important to have a justifiable reason for exploring space.
"Are reasons such as for adventure, wanderlust or 'backing up the biosphere' good enough to justify our exploration of space?"
He says we should question the idea that space may provide an escape for us if our world becomes overpopulated and uninhabitable.
Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Virgin group head Richard Branson at the launch of the world's first commercial space tourism business last year (Image: Reuters/Ben Chrisman)
"Does having a safety net, such as a back-up planet, make it more likely that we take more chances and treat our current planet less carefully?"
Lin says issues such as polluting space, the proliferation of military technologies in space and the safety of space travellers should also be considered.
"We have already littered our outer atmosphere with floating space debris that rockets and satellites need to track and navigate around, not to mention abandoned equipment on the Moon and other planets," he says.
"Have we learned enough about ourselves and our history to avoid the same mistakes as we have made on Earth?"
Finally, says Lin, some critics suggest it may be better to spend money on alleviating poverty and hunger, providing access to clean and affordable water and energy, and addressing other issues including human rights violations.
Plenty of real estate in space
Australian cosmologist and space exploration advocate, Professor Paul Davies, agrees space exploration is a "free for all" but doesn't think regulation is needed.
He says he supports the views of US physicist and futurologist Emeritus Professor Freeman Dyson, of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton, who sees space as "an escape from the straightjacket of an over-regulated Earth".
"We could find whole new ways of organising society," says Davies of the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at Macquarie University in Sydney.
Davies says space is not finite in the same way Earth is, which means there is less need to control development there.
"In a sense, space is unlimited," he says. "There's a lot of real estate out there and no possibility I think within a thousand years of any sort of territorial conflict."
But Davies believes we should be regulating exploration of Mars, if we find life there, to ensure scientists can study it.
He also says we need to take the issues of space junk and militarisation of space seriously.
But he does not think it's fair to say money spent on space exploration should be spent on solving problems on Earth.
"Let's stop sport and spend that money on alleviating poverty in Africa," he says. "You never hear that argument."
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1624464.htm
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