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Decentralize, adapt and cooperate

Nature volume 465, pages 292–293 (2010)Cite this article

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Two years ago Raphael D. Sagarin and colleagues proposed that security systems should learn from nature. Now they've worked with defence professionals on putting that call into practice.

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.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Raphael D. Sagarin is at the Institute of the Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85716, USA. rafe@email.arizona.edu ,

    Raphael D. Sagarin

  2. Candace S. Alcorta is in the Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-2176, USA.,

    Candace S. Alcorta

  3. Scott Atran is at the CNRS, Institut Jean Nicod-Ecole Normale Supérieure, 29 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France ,

    Scott Atran

  4. Daniel T. Blumstein is in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California at Los Angeles, 621 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, California 90095-1606, USA.,

    Daniel T. Blumstein

  5. Gregory P. Dietl is at the Paleontological Research Institution, 1259 Trumansburg Road, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA.,

    Gregory P. Dietl

  6. Michael E. Hochberg is at the Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université Montpellier II, CNRS, Place Eugéne Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France.,

    Michael E. Hochberg

  7. Dominic D. P. Johnson is in Politics and International Relations, University of Edinburgh, 15A George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD, UK.,

    Dominic D. P. Johnson

  8. Simon Levin is in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.,

    Simon Levin

  9. Elizabeth M. P. Madin is in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.,

    Elizabeth M. P. Madin

  10. Joshua S. Madin is in the Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia.,

    Joshua S. Madin

  11. Elizabeth M. Prescott is at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Center for Peace and Security Studies, Georgetown University, Washington DC 20007, USA.,

    Elizabeth M. Prescott

  12. Richard Sosis is in the Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-2176, USA.,

    Richard Sosis

  13. Terence Taylor is at the International Council for the Life Sciences, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 625, Arlington, Virginia 22203-9220, USA.,

    Terence Taylor

  14. John Tooby is at the Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.,

    John Tooby

  15. Geerat J. Vermeij is in the Department of Geology, University of California at Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616-8605, USA.,

    Geerat J. Vermeij

Authors
  1. Raphael D. Sagarin
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  2. Candace S. Alcorta
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  3. Scott Atran
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  4. Daniel T. Blumstein
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  5. Gregory P. Dietl
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  6. Michael E. Hochberg
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  7. Dominic D. P. Johnson
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  8. Simon Levin
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  9. Elizabeth M. P. Madin
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  10. Joshua S. Madin
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  11. Elizabeth M. Prescott
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  12. Richard Sosis
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  13. Terence Taylor
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  14. John Tooby
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  15. Geerat J. Vermeij
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Cite this article

Sagarin, R., Alcorta, C., Atran, S. et al. Decentralize, adapt and cooperate. Nature 465, 292–293 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/465292a

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