Nov 6, 2022 01:08 PM
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221...ent-rights
EXCERPTS: . . . Writers don't seem to have too much hope that humans would treat aliens very well. Perhaps that’s because our track record of affording rights to the inhabitants of this planet, human or otherwise, has been so poor throughout history, despite the international legal conventions supposedly safeguarding them.
The granting of inalienable, universal rights – that is, the rights guaranteed to all people no matter what – were enshrined by the international community into law through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 after the horrors of World War Two. However, except for sanctions, there are limited means to enforce these rights even for humans...
[...] Some governments are taking an interest though. Back in 1999, journalist Leslie Kean was leaked a French dossier on UFOs showing generals and admirals believed the unexplained phenomena could potentially be extraterrestrial.
[...] Jill Stuart, a specialist in outer space law at the London School of Economics, doesn't believe that humans will make contact with extraterrestrials within our lifetimes. But she still thinks considering what we would do in this situation is a conversation worth having.
[...] There are no international agreements or mechanisms in place for how humanity would handle an encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence...
[...] Stuart believes it's unlikely any widely accepted international framework will be developed until it needs to be. People like having material, real-life scenarios to consider in order to bring new ideas into law. Should contact happen, it's possible that the existing legal frameworks that govern human rights could be extended and adapted to those of aliens.
[...] "When it comes to aliens, we have to ask: what kind of intelligence do they have?" says Susan Blackmore, a writer and visiting professor at the University of Plymouth in the UK, who researches consciousness. "Why do they have it? I think we must assume these aliens would have evolved by Darwinian evolutionary processes, because that's the only process we know that will produce living intelligent things."
[...] "Could aliens suffer?" Blackmore asks. "If so, we should have some moral obligation towards [them], and perhaps even build legal frameworks on the basis of [this]."
[...] One major consideration in this case would be the intent of the aliens: in short, whether they were benign or hostile...
[...] In this case, a more appropriate question might be: would our new alien overlords afford us rights?
"What are you going to do if they're aggressive?" asks Shostak. "It'd be like Neanderthals trying to meet with the US Air Force: the Neanderthals could have all the policies they want, but it wouldn't matter." (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: . . . Writers don't seem to have too much hope that humans would treat aliens very well. Perhaps that’s because our track record of affording rights to the inhabitants of this planet, human or otherwise, has been so poor throughout history, despite the international legal conventions supposedly safeguarding them.
The granting of inalienable, universal rights – that is, the rights guaranteed to all people no matter what – were enshrined by the international community into law through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 after the horrors of World War Two. However, except for sanctions, there are limited means to enforce these rights even for humans...
[...] Some governments are taking an interest though. Back in 1999, journalist Leslie Kean was leaked a French dossier on UFOs showing generals and admirals believed the unexplained phenomena could potentially be extraterrestrial.
[...] Jill Stuart, a specialist in outer space law at the London School of Economics, doesn't believe that humans will make contact with extraterrestrials within our lifetimes. But she still thinks considering what we would do in this situation is a conversation worth having.
[...] There are no international agreements or mechanisms in place for how humanity would handle an encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence...
[...] Stuart believes it's unlikely any widely accepted international framework will be developed until it needs to be. People like having material, real-life scenarios to consider in order to bring new ideas into law. Should contact happen, it's possible that the existing legal frameworks that govern human rights could be extended and adapted to those of aliens.
[...] "When it comes to aliens, we have to ask: what kind of intelligence do they have?" says Susan Blackmore, a writer and visiting professor at the University of Plymouth in the UK, who researches consciousness. "Why do they have it? I think we must assume these aliens would have evolved by Darwinian evolutionary processes, because that's the only process we know that will produce living intelligent things."
[...] "Could aliens suffer?" Blackmore asks. "If so, we should have some moral obligation towards [them], and perhaps even build legal frameworks on the basis of [this]."
[...] One major consideration in this case would be the intent of the aliens: in short, whether they were benign or hostile...
[...] In this case, a more appropriate question might be: would our new alien overlords afford us rights?
"What are you going to do if they're aggressive?" asks Shostak. "It'd be like Neanderthals trying to meet with the US Air Force: the Neanderthals could have all the policies they want, but it wouldn't matter." (MORE - missing details)