Kamijo Yoshio, Komiya Asuka, Mifune Nobuhiro, Saijo Tatsuyoshi
1School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology, 2-22 Eikokuji-Cho, Kochi-Shi, Kochi-Ken 780-8515 Japan.
2Research Center for Future Design, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi-Shi, Japan.
Sustain Sci. 2017;12(3):409-420. doi: 10.1007/s11625-016-0419-8. Epub 2016 Dec 30.
People to be born in the future have no direct influence on current affairs. Given the disconnect between people who are currently living and those who will inherit the planet left for them, individuals who are currently alive tend to be more oriented toward the present, posing a fundamental problem related to sustainability. In this study, we propose a new framework for reconciling the disconnect between the present and the future whereby some individuals in the current generation serve as an imaginary future generation that negotiates with individuals in the real-world present. Through a laboratory-controlled intergenerational sustainability dilemma game (ISDG), we show how the presence of negotiators for a future generation increases the benefits of future generations. More specifically, we found that when faced with members of an imaginary future generation, 60% of participants selected an option that promoted sustainability. In contrast, when the imaginary future generation was not salient, only 28% of participants chose the sustainable option.
未来出生的人对当前事务没有直接影响。鉴于当前在世的人与将继承留给他们的地球的人之间存在脱节，当前活着的个体往往更关注当下，这就带来了一个与可持续性相关的根本问题。在本研究中，我们提出了一个新框架，用于调和当下与未来之间的脱节，即当代的一些个体充当想象中的后代，与现实世界中的当代个体进行协商。通过一个实验室控制的代际可持续性困境博弈（ISDG），我们展示了后代协商者的存在如何增加后代的利益。更具体地说，我们发现，当面对想象中的后代成员时，60%的参与者选择了促进可持续性的选项。相比之下，当想象中的后代不突出时，只有28%的参与者选择了可持续选项。
