The Tragedy of the Commons - Answers

Summary

Garrett Hardin’s premise is that conservation problems not unlike the arms race have no technical solution. That is the solution lies in changes in human behaviour.This requires changes in values through education.

Tick-Tack-Toe

After playing a few games of tick-tack-toe students usually reach the point where both players understand the game and it will always result in a stale mate.

Winning occurs only when one plays against an unexperienced player. The player then places their 0 or x in the centre and then in any corner will always have the advantage.

Extract 1

1. What is a “technical solution” to a problem?
   " A technical solution may be defined as one that requires a change only in the techniques of the natural sciences, demanding little or nothing in the way of change in human values or ideas of morality."
2. In relation to the nuclear arms race what will happen if countries look for technical solutions? "If the great powers continue to look for solutions in the area of science and technology only, the result will be to worsen the situation.''
3. What is required to have a “non-technical solution” to a problem? "... a change in human values or ideas of morality."
4. According to the author how can you “win” at tick-tack-toe?"I can win only by giving a radical meaning to the word "win." I can hit my opponent over the head; or I can falsify the records. Every way in which I "win" involves, in some sense, an abandonment of the game, as we intuitively understand it. (I can also, of course, openly abandon the game -- refuse to play it. This is what most adults do.)"

Extract 2: “The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number”

1. According to Malthus populations grow geometrically. Give a synonym for ‘geometrical growth’. Exponential
2. What is ‘per-capita’? Per person
3. What is the consequence of seeing the world as limitless? There is a risk that we will waste resources and this will lead to scarcity and "misery".
4. Although it is not stated explicitly in the text why is going to other planets not a solution to problems of population growth? Going into space is not a solution in the very long term because it does not resolve the problems of our own planet, and it means that without a change in behaviour we will simply repeat the problem of over population and resource depletion elsewhere.
5. What is Bentham’s goal? The greatest good, for the greatest number.
6. Why does Hardin think that Bentham’s goal is unachievable? Why does Hardin consider it impossible or more so completely undesirable? Because a maximum number of people would mean subsistence for everyone. Hardin talks about energy required for bodily maintenance and those required for work (which includes leisure). If all the resources were shared evenly across the carrying capacity of the earth there would be very little beyond the barest minimum required to stay alive. However, I think Hardin is being absolutist here. Clearly the maximum in this case would have to be set at a lower level to ensure a quality of life. In the absence of such a control, certain members of the human population would through ways and means have more than their fair allotment, as is the case today.
7. What is the optimum human population? Less than maximum.
8. How can you determine what would be acceptable for everyone, as everyone has different tastes? What is needed is a system of determining what is good. In nature something is good if it generates survival. (Note that technically speaking goodness or values are not found in nature but are imposed on nature by people who have the capacity to discern values). I suppose something is good if it satisfies all our material and spiritual/aesthetic needs. For us, living in France, fulfilment for the majority appears to be a modest apartment, appliances, sporting and cultural activities, work, and sufficient income to raise a small family and finance one holiday per year.
9. According to Hardin has any prosperous society achieved optimum population?
   No, as all are in a state of growth. 'Optimum population' means the number of people is limited by the availability of resources, and where everyone has enough to be happy.

Extract 3 The Invisible Hand

1. Paraphrase ‘…the individual who “intends only his own gain,”..’
2. Paraphrase ‘…"led by an invisible hand”…”
3. Paraphrase ‘…the public interest…’
4. Did Adam Smith believe his idea of the invisible hand was true in all cases?
5. What was Smith’s major influence on our way of thinking?