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We tend to attribute moral value to those we consider to be our kin. Determining who or what falls inside this circle of moral responsibility, and to what extent our responsibility should stretch, will be key questions in the future.

 

Radical technologies open up the possibility of species diversion (some humans becoming transhuman and posthuman) and huge social inequities. Will super-elites see under-privileged (perhaps unmodified) humans as kin to be protected or as a xenophobic threat to their dominance and thus to be eradicated?

 

Likewise, how will humanity view animals and other non-human forms of nature? Will they be perceived as our kin, part of the wider eco-system to which humans belong and therefore worthy of equal protection? Or will they be perceived as a resource to be used and an unruly force to be dominated through ever more powerful tools and processes?

 

‘Black sky thinking’ advocates the latter, arguing we should accept serious degradation of planet Earth in our quest to dominate the skies through space colonization and human enhancement. Ecological thinking argues for a less ‘anthropocentric’ (human-centred) conception of human beings – where we are kin to and dependent on Nature – thus our attitude should be one of deep reverence, not domination.