Conflict is bad. Compromise, consensus, and collaboration are good. Or so we’re told. Lawyer and bioethicist Jonathan Marks challenges this conventional wisdom. Conflict is essential for the protection of the environment and public health—and he shows how both may be jeopardized when governments collaborate with industry.

Jonathan Marks works at the intersections of ethics, law, and policy. Having studied law at Oxford University, he qualified as a barrister and mediator, and spent a decade in full-time legal practice in London, where he developed expertise in human rights law, environmental law, and commercial regulation. Jonathan is currently the director of the Bioethics Program at Penn State University, and affiliate faculty with the Rock Ethics Institute, Penn State Law, and the School of International Affairs. He is also an academic member of Matrix Chambers, a leading set of barristers’ chambers in London. He has participated as an expert in law and ethics in meetings held by the Royal Society in London, the National Academies in Washington, D.C., and the World Health Organization. Jonathan recently finished a book on the ethics of public-private partnerships in public health, and he continues to explore the ethical, legal, and policy implications of reciprocity and influence for public bodies.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx