COVID-19 has been a stress test for our globalized society. The results, thus far, have not been encouraging. While responses and outcomes have varied across regions and countries, the pandemic has also revealed severe weaknesses in coordination at all scales, from local and regional to national and global.

There are many reasons for this lack of coordination. Some have deep evolutionary roots in human behavior in the form of ingroup/outgroup dynamics (e.g., our/their nation) and in the limitations of our cognitive and educational systems, which were not selected to handle the complexity of our present world and its challenges.

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G. Caniglia, L. Zenk, E. Schernhammer, M. Bertau, G. Steiner, M. Kainz, C. Jaeger, P. Schlosser, M. D. Laubichler, Scientists’ Responsibility for Global Futures, Science & Diplomacy 48 (2021)