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Space colonization
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====Other arguments==== Advocates for space colonization cite a presumed innate human drive to explore and discover, and call it a quality at the core of progress and thriving civilizations.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Arthur C. |title= Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into the Limits of the Possible |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/profilesoffuture00clar |chapter-url-access= registration |year= 1962 |chapter= Rocket to the Renaissance}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-03y.html | title= The Space Settlement Summit | last= McKnight |first=John Carter | publisher= Space Daily | date= 20 March 2003 | access-date= 12 March 2013 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130514103953/http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-03y.html | archive-date= 14 May 2013 | url-status= live }}</ref> [[Nick Bostrom]] has argued that from a [[utilitarianism|utilitarian]] perspective, space colonization should be a chief goal as it would enable a very large population to live for a very long time (possibly billions of years), which would produce an enormous amount of utility (or happiness).<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://www.nickbostrom.com/astronomical/waste.html |title= Astronomical Waste: The Opportunity Cost of Delayed Technological Development |journal= Utilitas |volume= 15 |number= 3 |date= November 2003 |pages= 308β14 |doi= 10.1017/S0953820800004076 |last1= Bostrom |first1= Nick |citeseerx= 10.1.1.429.2849 |s2cid= 15860897 |access-date=20 October 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140409031022/http://www.nickbostrom.com/astronomical/waste.html |archive-date=9 April 2014|url-status= live }}</ref> He claims that it is more important to reduce existential risks to increase the probability of eventual colonization than to accelerate technological development so that space colonization could happen sooner. In his paper, he assumes that the created lives will have positive ethical value despite the problem of [[suffering]]. In a 2001 interview with Freeman Dyson, J. Richard Gott and Sid Goldstein, they were asked for reasons why some humans should live in space.<ref name="dyson">{{cite web |last=Britt |first=Robert Roy |date=8 October 2001 |title=Stephen Hawking: Humanity Must Colonize Space to Survive |url=http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/colonize_why_011008-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125083046/http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/colonize_why_011008-1.html |archive-date=25 November 2010 |access-date=28 July 2006|website=space.com}}.</ref> Their answers were: * Spread life and beauty throughout the universe * Ensure the survival of our species * Make money through new forms of [[Commercialization of space|space commercialization]] such as [[space-based solar power|solar-power satellites]], [[asteroid mining]], and [[space manufacturing]] * Save the [[environment (biophysical)|environment]] of Earth by moving people and industry into space Biotic ethics is a branch of ethics that values life itself. For biotic ethics, and their extension to space as panbiotic ethics, it is a human purpose to secure and propagate life and to use space to maximize life.
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