For the next few months, I’ll be exploring a slightly different topic for this newsletter: the various questions of personhood that we’ll encounter as we increase human activities in space. Last month, I considered the idea of artificial intelligence in space exploration and settlement. Today, let’s turn back to biological intelligence and ask what kind of ethical challenges there might be for genetically engineered humans in space.
This topic has come up frequently in my conversations about space settlement. I’ve been asked a number of times about the potential for genetically engineering humans to better survive and operate in the alien environment in space, and what the social implications might be. I haven’t done much research into this realm of ethics myself, but it’s a problem that’s been well-studied by others. Like the ethics of AI, this is a topic that is becoming more and more relevant for humans living on Earth, independent of our future expansion into space. But the inaccessibility and extreme environment of space might exacerbate these issues in a space settlement.
How might advanced genetic engineering be used for space settlement? Living in space is hard on the human body: the decreased pull of gravity affects everything from our bones to our eyes, and spending time outside Earth’s protective magnetic field and atmosphere exposes space travelers to increased radiation. After several more decades of genetics research, scientists may be able to provide astronauts or space settlers with gene therapies to make their bodies more resistant to radiation or the detrimental effects of microgravity. Natural selection will do this kind of engineering itself, given enough time and effort by humans attempting to live and reproduce in space. But intentional genetic manipulation by humans could help protect early space settlers from some of the disease and disability caused by the environment they’re struggling to build a home in. We may also use genetic engineering on non-human life to create crops that can grow on Mars, or microorganisms to process waste or produce useful chemicals in a space settlement.
Space settlers may also use their understanding of genetics to conduct the same kind of genetic screening that is already conducted on Earth, to check for genetic disease in embryos. The increased radiation in space may cause an increased risk of genetic disease among space settlers, assuming that it’s even possible for humans to reproduce in space. If reproduction is so challenging that IVF is used regularly, genetic screening may be even more popular in space than it is on Earth. But even today, this practice is controversial: Studies have shown that when parents are provided with prenatal diagnoses of even nonfatal genetic disorders like Down syndrome, they are more likely to terminate the pregnancy. Is the decision to prevent the birth of a disabled child a form of eugenics? Does the answer to this question change on the societal level— say, if a space settlement decides to perform genetic screenings for all of its pregnant residents?
Beyond preventing disease, genetic engineering could theoretically be used to create humans that are better able to perform tasks in the space environment. Lois McMaster Bujold’s science fiction Vorkosigan Saga explores an extreme version of this idea through the quaddies, humans engineered to have four functional arms and no legs, to better operate in zero-gravity. Even if we never attempt such a radical change to the human body, genetically optimizing humans for space could make them less able to survive on Earth’s surface. Should such a non-terrestrial human be considered a “person” in the same way as their non-engineered Earthling cousins?
The answer, of course, is yes. Obviously, yes, genetically engineered humans are people. Humans born with genetic disorders are people. Our descendants born hundreds of thousands of years from now, with DNA measurably distinct from today’s homo sapiens, will be people. But if we decide to genetically engineer humans for space, will we still treat each other like people?
Conversations about this topic often bring up the 1997 sci-fi film Gattaca, which portrays the experience of a non-engineered human struggling with discrimination as he pursues his dream of spaceflight in a future where genetic engineering is common. Access to space today is already extremely limited, and often depends heavily on the specific physical structure and abilities of the potential astronaut’s body. If we add genetically engineered humans to the pool of astronaut candidates, where will that leave the rest of us? And how will that change the way people living on Earth and people living in space feel about each others’ personhood?
Other News
I have a paper out in Nature Reviews Materials, along with Martin Elvis, Moriba Jah, and Kazuto Suzuki: Shaping the ethical, sustainable and policy-driven future of space exploration. That link should take you to a paywall-free copy of the article.
I also appeared on an episode of the Lexicon podcast, chatting with host Sadè Agard about The future of space exploration and ethics.
My recent event in St. Louis, Missouri, was recorded and is now available in podcast form: Can Our Earthly Ways Thrive in the Cosmos?
You can also read an excerpt of my book, Off-Earth: Ethical Questions and Quandaries for Living in Outer Space, on The Big Think: The thorny ethics of planetary engineering.