Expedition to Mars (IMS-M5-02-EN)

Learn about the veil of ignorance and the construction of social contracts, using ethical principles to arrive at rules and an agreement for a simulated society.

First-liners

1. The students are divided into groups of between 6 to 8 students for this activity. The teacher explains that a new expedition to Mars is planned to start a new human civilization there. It is explained that the students will go on this expedition to fulfill different roles for this project. The different available roles are:

• The builders have to build a house for each member of the colony. They will have to work 14 hours a day for the first year in order to complete all the houses (basic temporary shelter is available while construction takes place). For the final four years they only need to do minor maintenance and are not expected to work more than two hours per day. Builders will comprise 60% of the members of the colony.
• The administrators will be responsible for law and order and the general administration of the colony. They will have sole authority to resolve all disputes and to decide on appropriate punishment in the case of transgression of rules. They will be expected to work eight hours per day for the duration of the five years. Administrators will comprise 10% of the members of the colony.
• The entertainers will be responsible for all social and educational events in the colony. They will have to arrange regular events such as plays, musical events, art classes, discussion groups, etc. The entertainers will be expected to work four hours per day for the duration of the five years, but mostly in the evenings. Entertainers will comprise 10% of the members of the colony.
• Scientists will only be responsible for scientific research, which is the core objective of the entire expedition. They need to develop interventions to improve the quality of life of all members of the Mars community, but they are also conducting highly confidential research which they are not allowed to share with anyone. Scientists can determine their own working hours and will comprise only 5% of the colony.
• The caterers are responsible for feeding the whole colony. This involves planting crops, harvesting, and preparing food. They will need to work eight hours per day for the duration of the five years. Caterers will comprise 15% of the members of the colony.

2. The students are told they will each be assigned a specific role at a later stage when they have reached the destination (that they have to fulfill, they cannot switch with anyone else). In the meantime, they have to discuss with each other the “social contract” or the rules of this new society that they will live in. Taking into account that they do not know which role they will fulfill, the aim is to try to reach the best agreement so that no group is disadvantaged. (based on Rawls’ idea of the Veil of Ignorance). Some issues that should be discussed are: (the students should each time take into account the fairness of the allocation)

• How will you determine the order in which completed houses will be allocated? Who will move in first and who will move in last?
• Should the houses all be the same or should they be different? For example, will the first houses be smaller than the later houses, in order to reward the people who have to wait longer? Will your status be taken into account in terms of the house that you will receive?
• You have to determine the salaries that will be paid to all members of the colony. You have an average of $10,000 per month per person to spend, but you can determine how much each position will earn, and whether you want to create a mechanism whereby bonuses will be paid. Money will be paid into earth accounts, since no money is required on Mars.

3. The groups of students get about 30 minutes to come up with their “social contract”. Next, each group presents their contract to the class. During these presentations, the teacher should summarize the proposals and collect them into an overview for later, when the students vote. After all student groups have presented their contracts and the teacher has presented their summary, it is time to vote for the best contract. This vote can take place in terms of the best parts of the contracts: order of the houses, size of the houses and salaries. As such, different groups can win the vote for one aspect of their proposed contract but not for the other.

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• Group discussion
• Presentation

It is helpful to prepare a slide containing the information about the different roles in the expedition and the questions that guide the discussion so it can be shown during the class. Otherwise, it may be difficult for the students to remember the different roles.

Malan, D. Expedition to Mars. https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/integrity-ethics/module-3/exercises.html

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Institute of Media Studies