Deontogenic Ethics

Deontogenic ethics includes four simple pieces: (1) consciousness must exist to be used; (2) long-term survival depends on plans to extend beyond the solar system in which our species originated; (3) long-term survival depends on the metaspecies, but is not only for the metaspecies; and (4) the needs of the metaspecies and conservation of their responsibilities may supersede individuals' needs or wants. While this may seem an affront to liberty – to remove choice from a conscious entity – it is worth noting that we already remove many aspects of choice with other “molecular infringers,” including folic acid fortification in wheat and flour, iodine in salt, chlorine in water, and mandatory vaccinations. In all cases, the decision is made about the allocation of a resource before a person reaches that resource because it is for the greater good and survival of all other humans. It is the ethical action.

This deontogenic ethical framework can fundamentally change the view of many items, organisms, people, and cultures on Earth. For example, there are still some Indigenous peoples in Brazilian, Ecuadorian, and other rainforests who have never been contacted by the modern world. They represent a primal, sacred state of humanity that is worthy of study, preservation, understanding, and also an opportunity to find new practices, language, culture, and molecules. But leaving autochthonous cultures in the remote, dense jungles of the Amazon is actually a death sentence. Even if a tribe has achieved a perfect, serene, and warless human society, they are doomed. If they are still here in a few billion years, when the planet is engulfed by the sun, then all their knowledge, culture, language, and history will be permanently erased. Thus, the desire of some cultures to remain isolated from the rest of humanity, while perhaps reasonable in the short term, is wrong in the long term, and essentially results in premeditated group suicide.

This critique of a “suicide society” applies not only to isolated populations, but to the rest of the world as well. Humanity's looming suicide, rather than that of just one society, is on a planetary scale and applies to all societies and cultures if we do not get off Earth at some point in the future. It is worth noting that the combined knowledge of consciousness, geology, and astronomy makes this indeed a suicide, rather that what would have otherwise been called an extinction or “accident,” because it is fundamentally known and preventable. It is equivalent to sitting on train tracks, knowing that a large train is coming down the tracks to destroy you, and just waiting for it. The technological, intellectual, and engineering challenges for leaving Earth and settling on other planets are large, but not insurmountable, and can be overcome if the volition and resources are dedicated to the effort across generations. Not to act on our duty to the metaspecies is a failure of deontogenic ethics. It is a failure of the duty to our own species and all others. So why would anyone say no?

- The Next 500 Years - Christopher Mason