Humans have gotten a lot wrong when it comes to living on Earth. And while it wouldn’t be possible to entirely leave earthly problems behind, when humans settle outer space, they will have an entirely new set of ethical questions with which to grapple.
Among the ethical questions will be issues around labor rights. How do you prevent workers from being exploited — or, what happens if a worker wants to quit while working in outer space? How do you protect the environment? Or, what would governance look like?
Consulting with people who work in the humanities, astrophysicist Erika Nesvold poses many questions in her new book, “Off-Earth: Ethical Questions and Quandaries for Living in Outer Space.”
Presented by Missouri Humanities, St. Louis on the Air host Elaine Cha spoke with Nesvold before a live audience at the St. Louis Science Center’s James S. McDonnell Planetarium in February.
Nesvold is also the co-founder of the JustSpace Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advocates for an inclusive and ethical future in space, and is a developer for Universe Sandbox, a physics-based space simulator.
To listen to highlights of the conversation recorded at the McDonnell Planetarium, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast, or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Roshae Hemmings is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
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