Abstract
The complement to “The Tragedy of the Commons” is “The Tragedy of Unpersuasive Power.” A class of problems exists for which technical solutions go unheeded. Logic and evidence do not prevail. Nevertheless, the fallacies and rhetoric do make sense in the light of human evolution as eusocial: groupthink is the consequence of group selection. Exemplary of the class of problems is “access to genetic resources [and] the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources,” (ABS) of the 1993 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Capacious language in the 2010 Nagoya Protocol on ABS has immortalized contentious issues which could have been resolved through the economics of information, elaborated since 1992. The online discussion groups of the ABS Clearing House afford a natural experiment to test the tragedy. The solution is “delegated delegation” driven by a quest for legacy by the leadership.
Highlights
In a disquieting editorial on nuclear proliferation, Lawrence Krauss warns that “until science and data become central to informing our public policies, our civilization will be hamstrung in confronting the gravest threats to its survival.” The author, a public intellectual and theoretical physicist, recognizes that his argument is generic. “[D]istinguished scientific minds at our research universities and other national labs—provide advice that is routinely ignored” (2013)
The fallacies and rhetoric do make sense in the light of human evolution as eusocial: groupthink is the consequence of group selection
Exemplary of the class of problems is “access to genetic resources [and] the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources,” (ABS) of the 1993 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
Summary
In a disquieting editorial on nuclear proliferation, Lawrence Krauss warns that “until science and data become central to informing our public policies, our civilization will be hamstrung in confronting the gravest threats to its survival.” The author, a public intellectual and theoretical physicist, recognizes that his argument is generic. “[D]istinguished scientific minds at our research universities and other national labs—provide advice that is routinely ignored” (2013). Outstanding in the class of problems left unresolved by a known technical solution is “access to genetic resources [and] the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources” (United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992). The economics-of-information narrative ends with analogous institutions: intellectual property has TRIPs [Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights] and WIPO [World Intellectual Property Organization]; genetic resources should have an International Regime on ABS under the Secretariat to the UN CBD” (Marrero-Girona & Vogel, 2012). With much fanfare and at the eleventh hour of COP10, emerged “The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity” (NP). The first three words of Article 10 set the stage for much more talk in many future COPs: “Parties shall consider...”
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