I would challenge your point that “No matter what we do, resources will remain scarce and people will compete over them.” First, there’s an abundance of evidence from the archaeological, historical, & contemporary ethnographic records of individuals & groups cooperating... 1/
(employing some or all of Ostrom’s principles) to survive in environments of scarce resources (& not just hunter/gatherer groups). Not saying the evidence for competition (including violent competition) isn’t also there, or that the competition between groups isn’t also... 2/
what often drives the cooperation among group members (because it does), only that cooperation seems to have been most effective when these principles are applied (even as part of a larger competition between groups).

Cooperating (& squashing toxic individualism) was... 3/
often the only way they could survive – an adaptation partially driven by resource scarcity itself (or it’s perception of scarcity if not actual). It’s how the “tragedy of the commons” is avoided. I’d recommend reviewing a paper that... 4/
@David_S_Wilson co-authored w/ Michael Cox & Elinor Ostrom before her death - Generalizing the core design principles for the efficacy of groups (sciencedirect.com/science/articl…) as well as the work of @tmwaring (timwaring.info) or any of the other members of the... 5/
@CulturalEvolSoc’s Sustainability Working Group - culturalevolutionsociety.org/story/sustaina….

Second, in the modern world scarcity is much more about power differentials than it is about resources actually being scarce - power differentials that exist between individuals w/in communities... 6/
or between nations globally. Those extreme power differentials that contribute to scarcity of resources for some but not others feeds destructive competition between those individuals or nations (& you can lump status in w/ “resources”). 7/
And those extreme power differentials are nourished by toxic “individualism” – when lower level selection forces dominate higher level selection forces (like cancer cells within the “higher level” of the body).

Ostrom’s principles are about structuring social interactions... 8/
to benefit the group overall (at whatever scale you’re focusing on) & limit behaviors by individuals or sub-groups that benefit themselves at the expense of other individuals or subgroups, or the group overall. The ARC process is about engaging those affected to develop... 9/
the best contextual version of them to implement, w/ a recognition that they need to adapt to changing conditions over time (i.e., temporarily “tightening up” to wear masks during a pandemic). And principle 8 actually recognizes that groups arrange themselves in... 10/
hierarchies of ever increasing size from the nuclear family to the global scale. This principle is about implementing the other principles at each level.

Is this increasingly difficult to do as we move up the levels of interaction – yes. But it’s not impossible. 11/
I’d also recommend reading @David_S_Wilson's Does Altruism Exist? (amazon.com/Does-Altruism-…) & review the Third Way Series (thisviewoflife.com/evolution-comp…) that I linked to in my essay. 12/
While @rainforestbook's conversation was one of the last in the series, I’d recommend starting w/ it (thisviewoflife.com/evolution-comp…).

In your responses you seem to be implying that toxic individualism is inevitable, but I (& others) would argue that it’s a result of our... 13/
physical & social/cultural environments. By mindfully manipulating those environments, at multiple scales, we can limit it. We already have examples of it being done all the way up to regional and industry scales. If we don’t take it to the global scale... 14/
it’s safe to say the future of our species is in question.

Appreciate this thoughtful conversation. These are the types of conversations we should be having in our halls of government, in our classrooms, and in our boardrooms. 15/
@JoHenrich, though not specifically looking Ostrom's principles, his thread here actually covers many of the difficulties in implementing this at multiple levels: . Such analyses are critical for understanding the contextual nuances impacting the... 16/
implementation of Ostrom's principles. In addition to Henrich & others mentioned above & in the essay, I'd also recommend following the work of @MazzucatoM, @KateRaworth, and @MicheleJGelfand. 17/

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More from @MarcelHarmon1

5 Jan
These are the type of actions our pharmacies, hair salons, retail stores, offices, universities, k-12 schools, individual residences, etc., need to be taking, particularly w/... 1/

@KDHE @LDCHEALTH @lawrenceks @douglascountyks @UnivOfKansas @usd497 @LawrenceChamber #ksleg #ksed
a more transmissible strain spreading in the U.S. & months left before vaccination levels are where needed to be.

CO2 levels can be used to estimate ventilation levels, though it's important to account for factors like the number of people present, the size of,... 2/
the space, & the use of portable air cleaners. Pages 23-24 of this document from @HarvardChanSPH & @j_g_allen provide a means for estimating ventilation rates based on measured CO2 levels. 3/

schools.forhealth.org/ventilation-gu…
Read 16 tweets
22 Sep 20
Sure. I think that’s great advice, whether or not we’re in a pandemic. As high performance bldg consultants, we’ve been doing that since last March. Engaging school districts to help them work through building/behavioral strategies for reopening relevant to their situation. 1/
As part of that effort we also developed a viral infection risk estimator to help districts (in conjunction w/us, by themselves, or w/ other consultants) evaluate the most effective strategies room by room. Particularly important when resources are limited. I know other... 2/
consultants have been doing similar things (though perhaps not the behavior focus or developing calculators).

But there are limits to such efforts, or other local partnerships w/ businesses, short of a nationally coordinated effort to reopen schools. Decades of deferred... 3/
Read 14 tweets
21 Sep 20
Thoroughly enjoyed this week’s @inquiringshow podcast consisting of @indrevis’s interview of Sara Hendrin regarding her new book: What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World. I love it when the tables are flipped relative to our views of the... 1/

stitcher.com/s?eid=77748790
built environment, particularly when that flipping provides a more comprehensive & inclusive focus on people. This idea isn’t new - that people are disabled not because of their bodies or brains but because of the physical environment we’ve created. But Hendrin provides... 2/
an insightful, inspiring, & hopeful take on it.

As they covered sign language in relation to the built environment, I couldn’t help but wonder how reopening schools would be impacted if we all generally knew sign language. Signing during... 3/

#schoolsreopening #ksed
Read 8 tweets
18 Sep 20
Ha! Yeah, Lawrencians are rarely shy about sharing their opinions.

It is true that some of what I discussed either requires larger societal structural change or starting the process to address several months ago. And I do recognize we're now faced w/ a somewhat dire situation.1/
But based on what I know about behavior, I think the ordinance/ticketing won't do much to change the risky behavior of those students already engaged in it. Though as I said before, it could help maintain the behavior of those already complying by reinforcing a perception... 2/
of fairness. I could be wrong (it's not uncommon), but we'll find out.

Something that could be done right now is for KU to convene an emergency working session w/ Greek students, other student groups, faculty, etc. to work out behavior related rules, monitoring procedures,... 3/
Read 6 tweets
18 Sep 20
Also good to see it has a sunset provision. I understand the need to hold everyone across the community to the same standard. That perception is important to help maintain compliance among those who've already been complying (& sacrificing to do so).

But I think the... 1/
ordinance/ticketing will have a limited effect on those individuals, particularly university students, who've been flagrantly engaging in risky behavior.

Many of those students have no ties to our community. They hold misperceptions, or are ignorant of, the seriousness of... 2/
the virus & how it's transmitted. They desperately want to experience their preconceived notion of college life & newfound independence. Their brains aren't finished developing yet. There's a host of reasons contributing to why a city ordinance enforced via ticketing won't... 3/
Read 7 tweets
16 Sep 20
Whether or not the results of the 779 tests between 9/7 & 9/13 are a representative sample of the student body depend on sampling procedures & data analysis techniques we're not privy to. Though given that KU's testing at this point seems... 1/

#ksed

www2.ljworld.com/news/ku/2020/s…
driven more by limitations in it's ability to do more testing as well as laboratory limitations in processing the results, then it's likely this isn't statistically representative. The 10.9% positivity rate may underestimate the % of students infected between 9/7 & 9/13. 2/ #ksed
Unless the testing by Watkins was designed to specifically provide a representative sample, it's test results likely overestimate student body infection rates. These are students coming in w/ specific symptoms or other concerns. So the infection rate between 9/7 &... 3/

#ksed
Read 15 tweets

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