Ian Stoner (Saint Paul College), "Against the Supposed Obligation to Prolong the Human Species"

Res Philosophica, 2024

‘A Worthy Human Extinction; or, Three Illustrations of a Thought Experiment’

By Ian Stoner

The straightforwardly colonialist mindset of many space enthusiasts, typified by Elon Musk, alarms me. Why are so many of my fellow fans of space sciences unperturbed by these aspirations to colonization and settlement, extraction and exploitation? I’ve come to suspect that at least part of the problem is that too many people uncritically accept the principle that humanity ought to act so as to prolong our species. My recent paper is targeted at that principle.

My argument is based on a fanciful example in which Bea, a space explorer, crashlands on Planet Claire, a distant planet with a thriving ecosystem. Circumstances force her into a tragic situation in which she must choose her own death—and thereby human extinction on Claire—for the sake of Claire’s other lifeforms. I use the example first to show—decisively, I think—that it is not incoherent and need not be misanthropic to prefer human extinction sooner rather than later. Second, I use it as the basis of a more ambitious argument for the conclusion that we should prefer our own extinction sooner rather than later.

The paper is short and written to be fun to read. Rather than desiccate a summary for this post, I thought I’d take the opportunity to try something different. I asked a few of my artistically gifted friends to create something inspired by the tale of Bea’s fate on Planet Claire and wow, did they come through.

I hope you’ll enjoy the art that follows. And then have a look at my short paper. (It is temporarily open access at Res Phil; pre-print archived at PhilPapers for when the open access goes away.) And then look again at the art. And then maybe wonder if perhaps our own extinction might be a worthy goal.

“Rock Lobsterish Creatures,” watercolor by Emily Hoisington. Emily is an instructor of art at Saint Paul College. She has shown work in galleries around the Twin Cities including The Smallest Museum in Saint Paul.

“Bea’s Tragedy,” comic by Mark Stoner. Mark is Emeritus Professor of Communication Studies at Sacramento State University. Since retiring from full-time teaching, he has explored new mediums and genres from ceramics to comics.

“Do You?” pen and ink by Ev Skellie. Ev is a Minneapolis based artist and mountain climber. They have shown work around the Twin Cities, including a solo exhibition at Studio 2 Ceramics in Minneapolis.