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.
Introduction
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.
These guidelines were developed in relation to human civilizations; the Committee has developed closely analogous guidelines for Biran. (The Social Advancement / Scope criterion is inapplicable to Biran societies, which are instead rated on the efficiency of their jurisdictional arrangements. Should an analogous human civilization be discovered, it may be useful to rate it using the Biran scale.) If other sentient or possibly sentient species are encountered, all caution should be exercised, and the initiation of contact should be avoided unless it is clearly necessary for the completion of mission aims.
Definition: Social Advancement
The Committee defines social advancement as a civilization's progress toward a just, peaceful, and harmonious social structure which is respectful of its individual members and enjoys their broad support. Advanced societies direct the efforts of their members towards mutually advantageous goals while respecting their liberties and personal choices.
A point scale is defined in relation to four key areas in which the organization of civilization can be approximately rated: Scope, Human Rights, Rule of Law, and Freedom.
Scope Score |
Explanation |
0 |
Scope limited to bands or small villages. |
1 |
Many local polities, city-states and dependent countryside |
2 |
Feudal structures, many nation-states, limited international law |
3 |
Effective supranational unions or planetary treaty organizations, few large states |
4 |
Multi-planetary states or confederations. |
Equality Score |
Explanation |
0 |
Despotism. Social class defined by favour with rulers. |
1 |
Firm heredity class distinctions, little or no mobility, slavery, serfdom |
2 |
Major heredity class distinctions, some mobility |
3 |
Only ceremonial class distinctions are hereditary, high social class mobility |
4 |
Social class determined by individual merit alone, or effectively abolished. |
Rule of Law Score |
Explanation |
0 |
No codified law. No separation of power among rulers. |
1 |
Law exists but can be changed at the whim of rulers. |
2 |
Established process for the creation and modification of law. Separation between lawmakers and enforcers. |
3 |
Codified and rationally-based laws applied fairly and transparently to all. Constitutions and basic laws important. |
4 |
Rational and evidence-based laws made on a systematic logical basis consistent with the society's ideals of justice. |
Freedom Score |
Explanation |
||0||
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.
A point scale is defined in relation to four key areas in which technology is applied to address the needs of people: Nutrition, Communications, Transportation, and Energy.
Nutrition Score |
Explanation |
||0||
Communications Score |
Explanation |
||0||
Transportation Score |
Explanation |
||0||
Energy Score |
Explanation |
||0||
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)