Planetary chauvinism is the belief that human society will always be planet-based (even if extended beyond

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

), and overlooks or ignores the potential benefits of space-based living. The idea can be extended to alien society in general, that is, we should expect alien society to be planet based. The coining of the term is often credited to

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

, but in an interview with

Bill Boggs William Boggs III (born July 11, 1941) is an American television host and journalist. Biography Boggs was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA. He earned a master's degree from the university's Anne ...

, Asimov mentions that he heard it from

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...

. The counter-argument is that all the benefits of a planet can be achieved in space, e.g., by an O'Neill cylinder-type structure. An even narrower version of planetary chauvinism is G-star chauvinism. This is the assumption that intelligent life will always evolve in star systems similar to our own, that is, in stars of

spectral class In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the ...

G. Carl Sagan criticised this belief on the grounds that intelligent life has a greater chance of evolving on the most long lived stars. That suggests that class-M and class-K stars are more likely candidates, not only because of their lifetime, but also because they are far more numerous than class-G stars.Carl Sagan, ''Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective'', p. 48, Cambridge University Press, 2000 . There are several hypotheses of the possibility of life originating in the universe in places other than planets.Luis A. Anchordoqui and Eugene M. Chudnovsk
Can Self-Replicating Species Flourish in the Interior of a Star?
''Letters in High Energy Physics'', issue 166, 2020, * From the abstract: "We argue that an advanced form of life based upon short-lived species can exist inside

main-sequence star In astronomy, the main sequence is a classification of stars which appear on plots of stellar color versus brightness as a continuous and distinctive band. Stars on this band are known as main-sequence stars or dwarf stars, and positions of star ...

s like our Sun."

Surface chauvinism

Thomas Gold Thomas Gold (May 22, 1920 – June 22, 2004) was an Austrian-born astrophysicist, who also held British and American citizenship. He was a professor of astronomy at Cornell University, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and a Fe ...

, who advocated for the possibility of life in deep biospheres below the surfaces of celestial bodies, has criticized science which only focuses on the surface and not below in its search of life as ''surface chauvinism''. Similarly, the focus on surface-bound and territorial

space advocacy Space advocacy is supporting or advocating human activity in outer space. The advocated purposes range from orbital flight, space exploration, commercialization of space and space settlement, to outright space colonization. There are many di ...

, particularly for

space colonization Space colonization (or extraterrestrial colonization) is the human settlement, settlement or colonization of outer space and astronomical bodies. The concept in its broad sense has been applied to any permanent human presence in space, such ...

, has been termed ''surfacism'', neglecting interest for atmospheres and potential atmospheric human habitation, such as colonization above the surface of Venus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Planetary Chauvinism Space colonization Chauvinism Isaac Asimov

Surface chauvinism

See also

References