Joining the 'Galactic Club': What Price Admission? - A hypothetical case study of the impact of human rights on a future accession of humanity to interstellar civilisation networks

摘要

If humanity ever encountered extraterrestrial civilisations who had already formed an interstellar network with others and which had its own interstellar legal framework, would we want to accede to that framework, with the likely effect of having to adapt our own laws? Can there be a joint view of what a global human position should look like or is it impossible to arrive at a consensus? Aspects of questions like these have been hinted at in the literature in a generic sense but an analysis of the costs to human identity of taking out membership in a "Galactic Club" has so far not been attempted. As an extreme hypothetical case study based on a direct contact scenario, this paper aims to close at least part of the gap by addressing one facet of human normativity and identity that will inevitably exert a major influence on any future negotiations with ETI: Human rights. The curious nigh-total absence of this particular field of law in any SETIrelated research has been conspicuous for some time. The article can only offer first reflections meant to help shape the future debate. It will try to chart a course across the existing terrain of human rights law, looking at the fundamental aspects of individual human rights guarantees and how they might be affected by contact with an interstellar legal regime.