Human societies rely on rules to function, curbing the interests of individuals in favor of the interests of the population. A review of recent progress in biology and digital sciences suggests that such strategies might be universal: many living and technological systems favor the interests of the population to the detriment of individuals, at all scales. They behave in a suboptimal manner, restraining short-term performances while ensuring a high level of global resilience. This paper describes the features of such suboptimal systems. By synthesizing numerous examples within biological, and socio-cultural systems, we show how suboptimality might constitute a powerful source of inspiration to address the numerous trade-offs humanity is facing in the anthropocene. Should human societies curb their performance for the now anthropic ecosystems to be resilient? New research themes, such as soft law, agroecology, and planetary health, already echo suboptimal behaviors. These examples suggest that a better knowledge of suboptimal systems could help formalize a rational limit to human development towards sustainability, very much like the planetary boundaries for their Earth counterpart. Conversely, this synthesis also raises a question of whether human societies could be resilient without being suboptimal?

人类社会依靠规则来运转，以个人利益为重，以人民的利益为前提。对生物学和数字科学最新进展的回顾表明，这样的策略可能是普遍的：许多生活和技术系统都有利于人口的利益，从而在各个方面损害个人。他们表现欠佳，限制了短期表现，同时确保了较高的全球弹性。本文介绍了此类次优系统的功能。通过综合生物学和社会文化系统中的众多实例，我们展示了亚最优性如何构成灵感的有力来源，以解决人类在人类世面临的众多权衡。人类社会是否应限制其表现，以使现在的人类生态系统恢复活力？软法，农业生态学和行星健康等新的研究主题已经呼应了次优的行为。这些例子表明，对次优系统的更好了解有助于形式化人类发展对可持续发展的合理限制，这非常类似于地球对应者的行星边界。相反，这种综合也提出了一个问题，即人类社会是否能够在不处于次优状态的情况下具有韧性？非常像地球对应的行星边界。相反，这种综合也提出了一个问题，即人类社会是否能够在不处于次优状态的情况下具有韧性？非常像地球对应的行星边界。相反，这种综合也提出了一个问题，即人类社会是否能够在不处于次优状态的情况下具有韧性？