Marine ecologist writes book, fights terror. Paleobiologist meets neoconservative, spawns book. Arms races among invertebrates, intelligence gathering by the immune system and alarm calls by marmots are but a few of nature's security strategies that have been tested and modified over billions of years. This provocative book applies lessons from nature to our own toughest security problems--from global terrorism to the rise of infectious disease to natural disasters. Written by a truly multidisciplinary group including paleobiologists, anthropologists, psychologists, ecologists, and national security experts, it considers how models and ideas from evolutionary biology can improve national security strategies ranging from risk assessment, security analysis, and public policy to long-term strategic goals.
Read the first chapter, then visit the companion web site, Darwinian Security (not much there yet). Recent news coverage is collected at the author's web site, although the link to a recent interview instead (mysteriously, obscurely) points to a simply named Thai Cafe near Duke. Some of this analysis seems like overkill: A biological assessment of the TSA’s methods found that the agency’s well advertised screening procedures may lead to a kind of natural adaption by terrorists.
Was such an "assessment" really necessary to reach that conclusion? |