Social and Ethical Currents in Astrobiological Debates

As the newest scientific discipline, astrobiology is mostly a collection of unanswered questions, especially when it comes to the many social and ethical issues it raises. Enormous progress has been made in recent years, but it remains the case that discussions in astrobiology often involve a degree of speculation many (especially those trained in more mature disciplines) find problematic. In this chapter, I identify some of the factors that play an important (though largely unrecognized) role in astrobiological debates, and explore in a preliminary way the challenge posed by open empirical questions, different time frames, and implicit conceptual commitments. Explicitly recognizing these factors can help bind our analyses and avoid some of the unnecessary and counterproductive confusion that so often characterizes these debates by enriching our understanding of how different scholars approach social and ethical issues in astrobiology.