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UWS ACADEMIC DELIVERS KEY ADDRESS AT LEADING OUTER SPACE SYMPOSIUM
8 October 2008
Dr Andy Miah of University of the West of Scotland’s School of Media, Language & Music, delivered an address entitled ‘Extraterrestrial Ethics: Our Cultural and Moral Commitment to Discover, Create and Support Emergent Life Forms’ at a leading arts and humanities symposium recently.
‘Less Remote - The Futures of Space Exploration: an Arts & Humanities Symposium’ took place at Glasgow’s SECC, as part of the International Astronautical Congress, on 30 September 2008.
The symposium saw some of the world’s leading academics in the field of arts and humanities discussing living in space, art in zero gravity, the future of the International Space Station, and the search for life and human origins in scientific missions.
Dr Andy Miah’s address outlined the regard we should have for various forms of life in an era where new life forms are being created and discovered, and as species boundary transitions are occurring. The prospect of chimera embryos, synthetic biology and the imperative to live within outer stellar environments through space tourism, offer opportunities to consider what responsibilities we owe to such environments.
His speech detailed a broad ethical framework that aims to establish the field of outer space ethics as a key discipline of moral concern. The need for such systems arises from the motivation to conquer space, the increased likelihood of civilian, manned missions, and as we locate more objects within outer space thus affecting its environment. In so doing Dr Miah discussed the ethics of outer space within the context of governmental policy and UNESCOs and the European Space Agency’s intimations of ethical concerns, articulating the contribution of the arts and humanities to establishing this broad cultural concern.
Dr Andy Miah is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, FACT (the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) and the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, USA.
Dr Miah, who is Reader in New Media and Bioethics at University of the West of Scotland, said: “This event has global importance and local relevance, as plans to locate a launch pad in Scotland have been discussed.
“To deliver an address at this important event and outline the ethical issues that arise form exploring outer space is a privilege. As I discussed during my presentation I think we are obliged to explore new territories and discover new life forms, bu also to consider what responsibilities this implies.”