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Learning From the Octopus - How Secrets from Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, and Disease (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R1,376
Discovery Miles 13 760
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Learning From the Octopus - How Secrets from Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, and Disease (Hardcover)
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Despite the billions of dollars we've poured into foreign wars,
homeland security, and disaster response, we are fundamentally no
better prepared for the next terrorist attack or unprecedented
flood than we were in 2001. Our response to catastrophe remains
unchanged: add another step to airport security, another meter to
the levee wall. This approach has proved totally ineffective:
reacting to past threats and trying to predict future risks will
only waste resources in our increasingly unpredictable world. In
Learning from the Octopus , ecologist and security expert Rafe
Sagarin rethinks the seemingly intractable problem of security by
drawing inspiration from a surprising source: nature. Biological
organisms have been living- and thriving- on a risk-filled planet
for billions of years. Remarkably, they have done it without
planning, predicting, or trying to perfect their responses to
complex threats. Rather, they simply adapt to solve the challenges
they continually face. Military leaders, public health officials,
and business professionals would all like to be more adaptable, but
few have figured out how. Sagarinargues that we can learn from
observing how nature is organized, how organisms learn, how they
create partnerships, and how life continually diversifies on this
unpredictable planet. As soon as we dip our toes into a cold
Pacific tidepool and watch what we thought was a rock turn into an
octopus, jetting away in a cloud of ink, we can begin to see the
how human adaptability can mimic natural adaptation. The same
mechanisms that enabled the octopus's escape also allow our immune
system to ward off new infectious diseases, helped soldiers in Iraq
to recognize the threat of IEDs, and aided Google in developing
faster ways to detect flu outbreaks. While we will never be able to
predict the next earthquake, terrorist attack, or market
fluctuation, nature can guide us in developing security systems
that are not purely reactive but proactive, holistic, and
adaptable. From the tidepools of Monterey to the mountains of
Kazakhstan, Sagarin takes us on an eye-opening tour of the security
challenges we face, and shows us how we might learn to respond more
effectively to the unknown threats lurking in our future.
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