Source: spiked
by Norman Lewis
“Speaking ahead of a US conference on the ethics of space exploration, held by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) last week, astrobiologist Dr Pamela Conrad told the Guardian that space exploration, particularly efforts to mine the Moon, is in danger of becoming an exercise in ‘colonialism’ and ‘exploitation.’ … Conrad’s fellow panellist at the conference, Dr Hilding Neilson, went even further. According to Neilson, a member of the Native American Mi’kmaq people, indigenous people have a deep connection with celestial bodies like the Moon. They therefore have a more profound and, by implication, superior ‘way of knowing’ the Moon compared with those advocating space exploration. … it is telling that these activists’ criticism of space exploration focusses overwhelmingly on the ‘rhetoric’ of colonialism, rather than the actual historical practice.” (03/14/23)
https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/03/14/space-exploration-is-not-the-new-colonialism/