Designing for voice in the vacuum : property in citizenship for democratic equality for future spacefarers

The hostile environments of space will require that human life beyond Earth be mediated by many advanced technologies and the many operationally prescriptive systems needed to manage them. Such sociotechnical systems will be characterized by hierarchy, routine, and continuous monitoring. Any humans living in space will spend the entirety of their time under conditions characterized by such systems. Under constant surveillance, totalizing hierarchy, and circumscribed routines, the prospects for democratic social relations appear dim. I offer up several frames that can be used to consider social relations among future spacefarers. By considering perspectives on technology studies, group psychological processes, and legal institutions I explore the question of democratic equality in space from multiple perspectives. I suggest that contemporary discussions of designs for future spacefaring society should center on how those designs will influence democratic equality, and I offer some preliminary sketches of what this might look like. I view my contributions as synthesis and reframing. My hope is that this work begins to bring subject matter experts who do not typically apply their expertise to space to do so.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Reed, David Colby.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Danielle Wood.

• Program in Media Arts and Sciences

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130609

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/130609