DRAFT
After consultation with stakeholders and thought leaders, the Interplanetary Assembly's Select Committee for the the Exploration of Space beyond Guo's Star have established the following guidelines to govern the contact between exploratory missions and civilizations whose social and technological conditions are very different from those prevailing in the Allied Worlds.
Motivations
Definitions
The Committee recognizes that judging civilizations to be more or less "advanced" necessarily involves a value judgement, and such standards as may be established for social advancement will reflect the historical development, values and mores of our own culture. Notwithstanding, the Committee has determined that, in light of history, some standards of this type are needed to inform decisions made concerning interaction between cultures with extremely different technical or organizational capacities. The overriding goal of these standards and associated guidelines is to promote mutually beneficial outcomes for both civilizations. All interactions must be both consistent with our own values and, as far as can practically be foreseen, beneficial for both parties.
Definition: Social Advancement
The Committee defines social advancement as a civilization's progress toward a peaceful and harmonious society respectful of its individual members and enjoying their broad support. Advanced societies direct the efforts of their members towards mutually advantageous goals while respecting their liberties and personal choices.
Definition: Technological Advancement
The Committee defines technological advancement as a civilization's capacity to apply scientific and engineering knowledge to control its material environment and circumstances.
Guidelines for Contact with Less Advanced Civilizations
Appendix: Select Committee Composition
Select Committee members:
- Chel Ferrari [SMP], at-large Representative of Heidelberg, chair of the Select Committee.
- Wen Burach [SMP], representing Outer Gren, Federal States of Greater Iridia.
- Dr. Yiths Tensol [PCP], Representing the Larsa Free State Polar Provinces, Larsa.
Upper-Manipulation-Appendages Hero1 [IND], representing the Unified Compacts for the Propagation of the Species, Water Planet of Iridia.
- John Dotcom [SP], Representing the Central Committee of Mars.
- Mira Huang-Wong [PUD], Representing the Union of Dirac.
- Preeta Cerro [DSP], Representing the Orbital Commonwealth of Thane.
Pattern-of-Markings Fortune2[IND], representing the Unified Compacts for Trading with Outsiders, Water Planet of Iridia
Principal advisers to the Committee:
Dr. High-Spatial-Frequecy-Eyes Plankton3, Prebhurts Endowed Professor for Interspecies Ethics, Human-Accessible University of the Higher Education Compact of Mid-Deep 47, Water Planet of Iridia.
- Adm. Clara Hamstroj, Allied Worlds Space Force.
- Her Grace the Archbishop of Susa, Melody Kim.
- Dr. M. Simon al-Larsi, Chair of the Department of Anthropology, All Thane Research University.
- Selwai, Nuncio of the Thomist Lama.
- Wiry Son of Threads, Minister of Industry, Southcap.
- Dr. Mar Song, Professor Emerita, Peters Historian Laureate, Public University of Roinmeh.
- Sir Ed Weatherby-Potts-Frito, Chief Executive Officer, Allied Nanomaterials.
Dr. Low-Viscosity-Screen-Ink Abyss4
- Col. (Ret, AFUD) Samuel Bo, Union Academy of Iolo, Center for Foreign Relations.
The One whose Upper Manipulation Appendages, Two Standard Deviations Stronger than Typical, Reminds its Caretakers of the Famed Hero (1)
The One with a Strange Pattern of Markings on its Dorsal Surface Said in Antiquity to Portend Unusual Times of Fortune (2)
The One whose Exceptionally Keen High Spatial Frequency Eyes readily Detect Nutritious Plankton (3)
The One whose Low Viscosity Screen Ink, Ejected Copiously when Alarmed, Serves Well to Conceal it from Harm, being like the Blackness of the Deepest Abyss (4)