The World Forum on the Future of Democracy, Tech and Humankind, 19th–20th February 2024, Berlin

Call for action: The World Forum will propose new draft international laws to replace the ageing Outer Space Treaty.

Video

VIDEO GOES HERE

Main outcomes

• Improved governance of space will be critical to ensuring successful and peaceful exploitation of common resources, from Earth orbit to asteroid mining

• Deep thought is needed to ensure that our inevitable expansion into the Solar System and beyond is ethical, for humans, non-human animals and maybe conscious AIs

• Current laws governing outer space are designed for a previous era, and are unsuitable for an age when launch costs have plummeted and private enterprises have easy access to space.

Panel discussion summary

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Future on the Moon, Mars and beyond? was the closing discussion of the Future of Humankind events, and it took the World Forum into space. The panel explored humanity's forays into space with Dr. Anders Sandberg, Prof. Jeff Sebo, and Allison Duettmann, moderated by scientist and presenter Dr. Andrew Steele.

The discussion started by revisiting humankind’s journeys into the cosmos so far, from the historic lunar landings to recent excitement about the resurgence of ambition in space exploration. Recent milestones such as India's lunar landings and the ambitious US Artemis program signal a reinvigorated era of interstellar ambition—but what do the coming decades hold, and what about the following millennia?

Dr. Anders Sandberg illuminated the near-term prospects, emphasising the incremental steps toward lunar and Martian colonisation, along with the significant challenges we’re facing far closer to home as Earth orbit becomes increasingly crowded. Allison Duettmann followed up with pragmatic considerations such as satellite deployment, space debris management, and the intricacies of space governance, grounding the discussion in present-day realities.

Prof. Jeff Sebo delved into the ethical dimensions of space exploration, contemplating the presence of non-human life forms on celestial bodies like Mars and the imperative of moral and political progress to ensure responsible cosmic expansion. The panellists engaged in a discourse on the importance of addressing immediate challenges while laying the groundwork for a sustainable and ethical future in space.

Steele invited the panellists to end the World Forum with the biggest positive note they could imagine, both physically and philosophically, by sharing their grandest and most optimistic visions of humankind’s future. All the panellists envisioned a vast potential future in space, and Sandberg and Sebo underscored the need for moral progress and responsible governance in space exploration to make sure that we can achieve it.