Decentralize, adapt and cooperate

Rafe Sagarin (1, 2) , Candice Alcorta (3) , Scott Atran (4)

1 Institut of the Environment
2 Environmental Health Sciences, University of California
3 Dept of Anthropology
4 IJN - Institut Jean-Nicod

Humankind faces a wide range of threats to its security and safety, from terrorist groups and cybercriminals to disease pandemics and climate change. All these threats share one characteristic: they are constantly changing. Decision-makers can never be sure whether the next tropical storm will be as violent as the last, or whether Taliban insurgents will use a roadside improvised explosive device or a suicide bomber for their next attack. Therefore, many of our security systems — those that are resistant to change, or that try to eliminate all risk — are doomed. Firewalls have failed to protect computers from hackers for 40 years; screening airline passengers for liquids didn't prevent Umar Abdulmutallab from taking a powdered incendiary onto a plane; and so cumbersome is the military procurement cycle that heavy armoured vehicles designed to repel improvised explosive attacks were deployed in Iraq a full three years after soldiers had identified the need.

Domaines: Science politique

Rafe Sagarin, Candice Alcorta, Scott Atran. Decentralize, adapt and cooperate. Nature, 2010, 465, pp.292-293. ⟨ijn_00505192⟩