Metalegal Considerations and Natural Law
| Author | David S. Myers |
| Date | 01 April 1981 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711788100700107 |
| Published date | 01 April 1981 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
1063
METALEGAL
CONSIDERATIONS
AND
NATURAL
LAW
by
DAVID
S.
MYERS
Metalaw—the
legal
concepts
governing
the
relations
among
intelligent
beings
throughout
the
universe
THE
possible
existence
of
intelligent
extraterrestrial
life
has
been
discussed
for
more
than
two
thousand
years.
The
pre-Incas
and
early
Greek
and
Roman
thinkers,
for
example,
believed
the
stars
were
inhabited.
The
French
philosopher,
Montesquieu,
envisaged
not
only
the
existence
of
sapient
life
elsewhere
in
the
universe
but
also
the
probability
of
legal
relations
among
them.
Thomas
Aquinas
wrote
of
his
belief
that
God’s
power
was
not
exhausted
when
he
created
life
on
earth.’
More
recently,
conjecture
has
been
based
upon
scientific
considerations
associated
with
the
vastness
of
the
universe.
Billions
of
galaxies
are
presently
within
the
range
of
telescopes.
Each
is
similar
to
our
own
galaxy,
and
each
consists
of
billions
of
stars
presumably
similar
to
our
own
sun.
Since
it
is
not
yet
possible
to
telescopically
locate
distant
planets
beyond
our
solar
system,
statistical
computations
are
used
to
hypothesize
the
probable
number
of
planets
that
exist
and
that
could
sustain
life
as
we
know
it
on
earth.
Astronomers
and
biologists
have
esti-
mated
that
millions
of
planets
in
our
galaxy
alone
are
inhabitable
and
that
the
processes
which
originated
and
evolved
into
intelli-
gent
life
on
earth
could
operate
on
such
planets.
Spectroscopic
study
has
revealed
that
all
the
various
objects
in
space,
including
the
sun,
stars,
novas,
nebulas,
and
dust
clouds,
contain
all
the
chemical elements
found
on
earth-the
same
chemical
substances
from
which
life
originated
on
our
planet.
These
facts
statistically
assure
that
intelligent
life
exists
elsewhere
in
the
universe.2
Contact
with
alien
intelligences
presents
a
difhcult
problem,
1
Ernst
Fasan,
Relations
with
Alien
Intelligences
(Berlin:
Berlag,
1970),
pp.11-13.
2
The
most
detailed
statistical
computations
regarding
intelligent
life
in
the
universe
are
printed
in
Stephen
H.
Dole,
Habitable
Planets
for
Man
(New
York:
Blaisdell
Publishing
Company,
1964)
and
Harlow
Shapley,
Of
Stars
and
Men
(Boston:
The
Beacon
Press,
1958).
Shapley
believes
that
the
space
between
stars
contains
billions
of
invisible
dark
stars
that
are
smaller
than
our
sun
but
larger
than
our
planets.
He
suggests
they
are
cool
for
stars,
but
are
warm
enough
to
maintain
water
in
a
liquid
state
and
would,
therefore,
be
suitable
as
a
place
where
life
could
origin-
ate.
Specifics
of
this
theory
are
reported
in
Ann
Ewing,
"Life
on
Tiny,
Dark
Stars,"
Science
News
Letter,
LXXXII
(July
21,
1962),
p.39.
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