Event: What is in it for me? Modelling the social dilemma of climate change
Date/Time: 2021-05-27T15:00:00Z → 2021-05-27T16:00:00Z
Location: Online
Description: Mitigating the detrimental effects of climate change is a social dilemma that requires global cooperation between many actors. Cooperation is beneficial for society, but individual decision makers are often focusing on their own welfare instead. Solutions discussed for such social dilemmas, such as reciprocity or punishment, typically do not work in large systems. Moreover, certain aspects of climate change are not well described by models of social dilemmas: The global climate may change more rapidly when certain thresholds are exceeded – and benefits are only occurring in the future, while costs have to be paid today. Evolutionary game theory allows to identify robust strategies in such situations that emerge when every player focuses on her own advantage. If the impact and timing of a potentially catastrophic loss is precisely known, it pays off to contribute as late as possible. But if these factors are unknown and repeated losses occur, immediate collective action can be optimal even in the absence of catastrophic scenarios.
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