As humanity builds settlements beyond Earth, myriad ethical issues will arise--many in a different way than they do terrestrially. Astrophysicist and space communicator Erika Nesvold has devoted extensive thought and research to how to ethically govern space settlements, most notably on her podcast Making New Worlds and in her book Off-Earth.

In a conversation that pairs well with Shane Harris's March 2022 Chatter discussion with astrobiologist Lucianne Walkowicz about ethical space exploration, David Priess spoke with Erika about her grounding in Star Trek and other science fiction, the JustSpace Alliance that she co-founded with Lucianne, that alliance's interactions with space industrialists, Erika's application to be an astronaut, conflicting motivations for humanity to settle space, how we should select space settlers, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, the concept of legal personhood for non-terrestrial bodies, labor law and criminal justice in space settlements, how motivations for settling space influence openness to various forms of government, and more.

Among the works mentioned in this episode:

The podcast Making New Worlds

The book Off-Earth by Erika Nesvold

The Chatter podcast episode Ethical Space Exploration with Lucianne Walkowicz

The Star Trek universe

The Foundation book series by Isaac Asimov

The Dune book series by Frank Herbert

The YouTube video All Tomorrows

The movie 2012

The book 2010 by Arthur C. Clarke

The book Artemis by Andy Weir

The movie Sunshine

The book A Brief History of Equality by Thomas Pinketty

The book series The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

The book Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

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