Nice breakdown of the tragedy of the commons. This is one of the many faces of “Moloch”, the god of the coordination failure. You could also characterize him with arms races, and other “races to the bottom” such as you described in this article.
It seems to me that defeating Moloch (solving our collective coordination failure as a species) is the chief challenge of our time. It’s our supreme dragon that we must face and defeat of civilization is going to continue. With exponential tech and an infinite growth imperative on a finite planet, our current civilization’s game is doomed. Just a matter of time.
It seems to me that the best example we have of humanity stewarding the commons well would come from the indigenous nations. Their cultural stories and myths place the commons in a field of value that cant be eroded by selfish interest.
If modern man is going to get through the great filter ahead of us, we might have to borrow some wisdom from our indigenous brothers and sisters who have kept this wisdom alive.
Thanks for bringing more awareness to a critical and wicked problem.
Great point Christian. Indigenous peoples have necessarily balanced resource extraction and pollution with their needs in order to provide for themselves without causing irreparable environmental damage. That's how their culture's have survived for so long. Their practices are worth studying.
In my opinion, the biggest unsolved "Tragedy of the Commons" problem on the planet today is waste management failure leading to pollution of natural environments.
I think that this type of problem has been solved in the case of over-fishing in a very small fraction of the globe where no-take marine preservation areas have been created and enforced. I think this doesn't completely fix the problem because the existing preserves are on a scale insufficient for sustainability.
I am not sure that inalienable rights that should not be subject to mutual coercion exist. The only one I would consider is what you choose to do on or with private property, However, there is good argument against that as well.
Great article. I think of public places that people abuse versus private. Like how people treat public housing buildings versus their own home.
I was just talking today with someone who was telling about the current ruin of San Francisco where homeless and drug addicts have taken over all public spaces. Sometimes the government in charge of the commons is not a good steward of them and allow their ruin.
I like private property solutions wherever they can work. And yes we do need regulation and education and incentives for people to do the right thing.
When you do the wrong thing because it’s in your self interest and get away with it, you do it again and are joined by many others. It’s ok, everyone is doing it.
But we need to be careful of second order consequences of misguided regulation as politicians and regulators are not responsible for bad rules and laws when they prove to cause bad side effects. Special interests and corruption and overreactions are all bound to happen.
Most people don’t act until there is a problem they must face. But still, I believe in humanity’s ability to solve problems. We will have those problems but i remain optimistic.
I think in order to preserve the commons, we need to incentivize the required human behavior. Incentivize frugality and efficiency. Humans are notoriously myopic, often taking the easiest and quickest way to achieve their best interest, hence the individual problem. I would say the decision to rob banks isn't because, people inherently care about the collective. In contemporary times the risk to reward doesn't favor the bank robber. For instance, people are wealthier than ever, there's no longer a great privation in many countries, and the ways to generate money are easier and more ubiquitous than ever. At the same the penalties for robbing a bank are the lowest in human history.
Coercion builds resentment and animosity to the arbiter. I think people would resent climate conservation if coerced into abiding by them, especially if it's a direct financial blow. As the sang goes, "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still."
I think propagate the climate dilemma through great articles like this, raising awareness. Then find ways to solve the incentive problem.
My first hand experience with this was sharing a bathroom when living with 4 dudes in a college dorm 🙅♂️. You should write on X. It’s the best way for ideas to spread virally.
Nice breakdown of the tragedy of the commons. This is one of the many faces of “Moloch”, the god of the coordination failure. You could also characterize him with arms races, and other “races to the bottom” such as you described in this article.
It seems to me that defeating Moloch (solving our collective coordination failure as a species) is the chief challenge of our time. It’s our supreme dragon that we must face and defeat of civilization is going to continue. With exponential tech and an infinite growth imperative on a finite planet, our current civilization’s game is doomed. Just a matter of time.
It seems to me that the best example we have of humanity stewarding the commons well would come from the indigenous nations. Their cultural stories and myths place the commons in a field of value that cant be eroded by selfish interest.
If modern man is going to get through the great filter ahead of us, we might have to borrow some wisdom from our indigenous brothers and sisters who have kept this wisdom alive.
Thanks for bringing more awareness to a critical and wicked problem.
Great point Christian. Indigenous peoples have necessarily balanced resource extraction and pollution with their needs in order to provide for themselves without causing irreparable environmental damage. That's how their culture's have survived for so long. Their practices are worth studying.
In my opinion, the biggest unsolved "Tragedy of the Commons" problem on the planet today is waste management failure leading to pollution of natural environments.
I think that this type of problem has been solved in the case of over-fishing in a very small fraction of the globe where no-take marine preservation areas have been created and enforced. I think this doesn't completely fix the problem because the existing preserves are on a scale insufficient for sustainability.
I am not sure that inalienable rights that should not be subject to mutual coercion exist. The only one I would consider is what you choose to do on or with private property, However, there is good argument against that as well.
Great article. I think of public places that people abuse versus private. Like how people treat public housing buildings versus their own home.
I was just talking today with someone who was telling about the current ruin of San Francisco where homeless and drug addicts have taken over all public spaces. Sometimes the government in charge of the commons is not a good steward of them and allow their ruin.
I like private property solutions wherever they can work. And yes we do need regulation and education and incentives for people to do the right thing.
When you do the wrong thing because it’s in your self interest and get away with it, you do it again and are joined by many others. It’s ok, everyone is doing it.
But we need to be careful of second order consequences of misguided regulation as politicians and regulators are not responsible for bad rules and laws when they prove to cause bad side effects. Special interests and corruption and overreactions are all bound to happen.
Most people don’t act until there is a problem they must face. But still, I believe in humanity’s ability to solve problems. We will have those problems but i remain optimistic.
I think in order to preserve the commons, we need to incentivize the required human behavior. Incentivize frugality and efficiency. Humans are notoriously myopic, often taking the easiest and quickest way to achieve their best interest, hence the individual problem. I would say the decision to rob banks isn't because, people inherently care about the collective. In contemporary times the risk to reward doesn't favor the bank robber. For instance, people are wealthier than ever, there's no longer a great privation in many countries, and the ways to generate money are easier and more ubiquitous than ever. At the same the penalties for robbing a bank are the lowest in human history.
Coercion builds resentment and animosity to the arbiter. I think people would resent climate conservation if coerced into abiding by them, especially if it's a direct financial blow. As the sang goes, "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still."
I think propagate the climate dilemma through great articles like this, raising awareness. Then find ways to solve the incentive problem.
My first hand experience with this was sharing a bathroom when living with 4 dudes in a college dorm 🙅♂️. You should write on X. It’s the best way for ideas to spread virally.