Abstract

Beginning as pockets of anaerobic bacteria subsisting on geothermal energy on the ocean floor, life expanded first throughout the ocean, then over the land, and eventually came to cover the entire Earth. In this paper, I argue that human activity in outer space should be understood in the context of this progression: life as an exponentially expanding force of negentropy currently contained within the atmosphere of the earth, and human technology as a radical transformation whereby life becomes capable of expanding over this limit. With reference to the philosophy of Krafft Ehricke, I argue that this position represents a synthesis between deep ecology and technological civilization: as with deep ecology, human beings are seen as having duties toward life; however, these duties consist not only in protecting the biosphere, but also in developing techno-biological living systems capable of reproducing in the ambient matter of the solar system.