Book Review: Off-Earth Ethical Questions and Quandaries for Living in Outer Space by Erika Nesvold; MIT Press (2023); 304 pages, Hardcover: $27.95

This is a thought-provoking, even controversial for some readers!

Erika Nesvold, an astrophysicist, has worked as a researcher at NASA Goddard and the Carnegie Institution for Science.

As a developer for Universe Sandbox as well as cofounder of the nonprofit organization the JustSpace Alliance, Nesvold is also the creator and host of the podcast Making New Worlds.

The book rests on a stated premise: Can we do better in space than we’ve done here on Earth?

An issue is that we don’t, shouldn’t, or can’t leave our ethics back here on home planet Earth.

As stated by the publisher, Off-Earth includes historical and contemporary examples from outside the “dominant Western/US…and privileged narrative of the space industry.”

What that translates into is the author’s narrative on the potential ethical pitfalls of becoming a multi-planet species.

Bottom line: We won’t be departing our earthly problems and start afresh – even by taking in that space suit, airlock and cramped habitat smell.

Here’s an extract from the book, courtesy of MIT Press titled “The Thorny Ethics of Planetary Engineering – Whenever someone waxes poetic about terraforming alien worlds, it’s worth taking a moment to consider the ethical implications of the proposal.”

Go to:

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-thorny-ethics-of-planetary-engineering/

For more information about this book, go to:

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262550994/off-earth/