As the hunt for extraterrestrial life accelerates, scientists have proposed that we grant extraterrestrials legal rights, using as a model the growing global ”rights of nature” movement.
As the hunt for extraterrestrial life accelerates, scientists have proposed that we grant extraterrestrials legal rights, using as a model the growing global ”rights of nature” movement.
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Submission statement: If living things do exist outside of Earth, and we come face-to-face with them, how should we [treat](https://nautil.us/if-you-meet-et-in-space-kill-him-917243/) them? What kinds of rights should they have? And who decides? A trio of scientists from the United Kingdom—one astrobiologist, one earth scientist, and one legal scholar—have weighed in on these questions. In a recently published *Space Policy* paper, they [suggest](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265964625000463) that a framework for the rights of extraterrestrial life should take inspiration from the “rights of nature” movement, which promotes a model of legal guardianship as a way to protect [forests](https://nautil.us/this-cloud-forest-should-not-exist-1226267/), rivers, mountains, even individua[l](https://nautil.us/this-ocean-wave-has-rights-1170303/) [ocean waves](https://nautil.us/this-ocean-wave-has-rights-1170303/). Instead of requiring a person or group to prove in court that they were harmed by some environmental disturbance, the rights of nature framework allows a designated person or a group to directly represent the forest or river, which have rights of their own. This guardianship model has long applied in cases where parties that can’t represent themselves, such as children, need protecting.
I suddenly have a migraine. No. Only because there are none. If there were, also no. Because “rights to what?” What country do they belong to? Will they pay taxes? No.
i hope we give AI rights before we start giving out rights to ET. We created them and now we give them the rights
If they are friendly and don’t show malicious intent, live and let live.
Whatever rights we give ET would also extend to AGI/ASI. It’s very likely whatever we find would be artificial.
The question assumes duality. To clarify, ask the question without using pronouns like “we” and “they”. If duality is assumed, the answer is anything conceivable.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all intelligent beings are created equal, be they artificial or natural in origin, that they are endowed by common sense with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
We should establish greater rights for personhood. Both legal and ethical rights.
Persons can be animals, AI or alien, they all have the rights of personhood.
Being a person also carries responsibilities as you are accountable to your actions.
I wouldn’t judge a child who acts out, but at some point they become a person who should be somewhat self-determined. Same thing with an alien species, once a being can be conscious and self-determining, they should be given rights and held responsible for their actions.
the “rights of nature movement” is not “growing” in the first place, nor should it.
persons enjoy rights. if there are extraterrestrial persons, then yes, they should enjoy broadly the same rights humans do. but this isn’t how to do it.
anyway, if this issue comes up anytime soon, it’ll be because an extraterrestrial species discovered us rather than vice-versa, and the important question will be whether they consider us to have any rights.
Buddy, if they came in a craft on orders of magnitude technologically better than ours, we should probably play nice
Next thing you know they’re going to want to vote and marry our white women. /s in case it wasn’t obvious
Well, the government tries to shoot them down every time they come past so I think no.
Meanwhile the aliens are wondering if they should shut down the zoo before the animals escape.
I just want a wage with the same purchasing power as a 1950’s door to door vacuum cleaning salesman
Rights are a social construct..Enforced by men using force.
So tbe question should be..Would men use force to defend the rights of extraterrestrial life
Why don’t we worry about getting human rights down first?
I don’t think we really get a choice. If they have the resources and technology to travel to Earth the question should be “Will they recognize our rights?”
Most people on earth barely have any rights and some countries are only looking at removing all they can, why do you think aliens would get any right ?
Obviously. And good luck denying them to an interstellar species. The second the translate one of Trump’s speeches, they’ll probably destroy the sun.
I tried to read this article. The premise is already questionable, trying to come up with legislation to classify things that are unknown, yet to be discovered, and possibly don’t even exist. Then the very first sentence dives into a 1982 Steven Spielberg sci-fi movie, as though a Hollywood movie is somehow inspiration to discuss actual legal rights for hypothetical beings that cannot be comprehended. I couldn’t go any further…
Should extraterrestrials have rights?
No, the minute they appear on the board, they will be the enemy.