coordination problems (multipolar traps)

title: coordination problems (multipolar traps)

title: coordination problems (multipolar traps)

Scenarios where the things that work well for individuals locally are directly against the global well-being.

Agents often create [[ Reinforcing Feedback Loops ]] that increasingly move towards the destruction of common well-being.

Coordination failure is one useful lens to view the interlocking crises we face in modern societies. For example, climate change would be easier to deal with if everyone could agree to take simultaneous action to reduce carbon-intensive activity. But without that agreement, it’s in everyone’s short term self-interest to keep polluting. The solution to coordination failure is a mix of social conventions & formal rules: think of the social pressure we put on companies to be more ecologically responsible, backed up by a police force that fines polluters. [[ Richard Bartlett ]]

Examples

• Tragedy of the Commons
• Arms Race
  • AI weapon developments
• Price wars
• Pollution of the Planet by Individual Nations

Created on: 2020-12-21 Inspired by: Daniel Schmachtenberger Related: [[ Game Theory ]] | biosphere stewardship