My parents founded Animal People, Inc. when I was two, and so I grew up within the animal rights movement. I was raised vegetarian, and have spent my entire life surrounded by animals, including dogs, cats, donkeys, a chicken, and various woodland creatures. From an early age, I was fascinated by science, especially zoology, paleontology, and astronomy. I have always loved science fiction as well, especially the Star Trek franchise, whose provocative futuristic dilemmas I enjoyed discussing with my mother.
During my undergrad at Vanderbilt University, where I earned my BA in Religious Studies with minors in Astronomy and Film Studies, I began to pursue my childhood interests as serious topics of research. With the guidance of astronomer Dr. David Weintraub, I researched Buddhist and Confucian perspectives on extraterrestrial life, using those religions’ attitudes toward animals as precedents for how they might inform human behavior toward alien beings. These interdisciplinary research projects helped direct me toward the University of Washington, where I am currently pursuing an MA in Museology (Museum Studies) and Graduate Certificate in Astrobiology. I created this online exhibit on behalf of Animal People, Inc. as my thesis project, and hope to graduate in June 2015.
Having grown up in the company of animals, I have never doubted the intelligence of other species or the importance of treating them compassionately. My views on consciousness are influenced both by science and by my spiritual beliefs, which draw from Buddhist, Hindu, and Confucian teachings. I believe that all but perhaps the simplest animals are conscious, and am open to the possibility of consciousness in plants and more primitive organisms as well. Although I recognize there is no such thing as a completely harmless lifestyle, I strive to minimize the suffering I cause other creatures by eating a vegetarian diet. Even if it’s eventually discovered that plants can suffer, eating them directly still harms far fewer than using them to fatten animals (which I am certain do suffer).
Unless human civilization destroys itself in the near future, I think it’s almost inevitable we will discover extraterrestrial life-forms and sentient machines within the next century. Whether that’s a good thing or not is another matter, about which I have conflicted feelings. Consider that we have known how to build Orion-type nuclear starships since the 1960s, but that no space agency has ever attempted to do so. Instead, the world’s nations use atomic weapons to threaten each other with annihilation. I think the fact that we’d sooner use nuclear technology to destroy the world than explore the universe speaks volumes as to why we aren’t ready for the latter. Humans have a dismal track record when it comes to respecting the welfare of other species (or members of our own for that matter), and we may well enslave, exploit, or exterminate any aliens or AIs we should encounter. The reverse is also possible; that by recklessness, karma, or plain bad luck, we may attract or create malevolent beings who will treat us the same way.
On the other hand, it’s also possible that ETs and AIs, or the search for them, could be what ultimately saves human civilization! For one, space exploration is so costly and difficult that reaching other worlds may first require establishing peace on our own. Project Orion was shelved partly because of an international ban on above-ground nuclear tests. Imagine what a breakthrough it would be if the Earth’s nations could trust each other enough to allow the development and launch of a nuclear starship!
If we ever make contact with more advanced alien civilizations, or create AIs smarter and more compassionate than ourselves, such beings could help us to develop a more enlightened society. If through cybernetic technology, we’re ever able to upload our own minds to computers, it may become possible to improve human nature by rewriting our most problematic instincts! And even if our own species is doomed to extinction, that doesn’t rule out the possibility of a positive legacy, if we are outlived by our artificially intelligent progeny or, by colonizing uninhabited worlds, serve to “seed” the universe with life, ensuring its continued evolution and spread for billions more years!
Which scenarios will come to pass? Only time will tell. But I hope that by encouraging visitors to consider their relationships with non-human beings, this exhibit might help make a brighter future just a little bit more likely.
