Solé's fantastic and extremely recommendable book "Phase Transitions" covers this as well. Quoting Janssen et al.: "even when the group is faced with negative results, members may not suggest abandoning an earlier course of action, since this might break the existing unanimity."
"More generally, the underlying problem here is why complex societies might fail to adapt [...]. Even if there is some social perception of risk, short-term thinking often prevails when facing long-term vulnerabilities. Such undesirable behavior is often favored by a combination of incomplete understanding of the problem, together with the misleading view that all changes are reversible."

Not seriously, no. Are there people lying in order to betray their entire species for absolutely no benefit? Yes.