Replying to LO26831 --
Best Regards Mark --
Thanks for the excellent question. Here's my quick take.
1. The dynamic phenomena of Tragedy of Commons occur all the time in
nature. Parasites infest a host. They do well until the host dies.
Wolves track down and eat the deer... Until the deer population is
destroyed, then the wolves suffer from mal-nutrition. Large herds of
animals drink the water but may ruin the pond. In Africa right now,
elephant herds are butting down the trees... I presume they get some
benefit from doing this. When there are no more trees, I believe the
elephants suffer.
2. The human examples are easy: With a new road, people change their
driving and living habits and turn the road into a parking lot. The
secretarial pool, shared by many users, is hopeless. Everyone wants
services from the IT shop; it falls apart under the load. We harvest,
mine, hunt, or catch so much of a natural resource that our future use is
less successful. And, a more challenging example: Antibiotics are wonder
drugs, saving lives. Overuse of antibiotics is creating strains of
virulent and resistant bacteria that are extremely threatening.
3. When humans do it, we call it a tragedy. When animals do it, we just
say, "that's survival of the fittest" or "that's nature." We call it a
tragedy when we see or sense that there is a more noble opportunity which
has (tragically) been lost.
4. This reminds me of a classic Maturana anecdote...
"I go into the great museum with my wife and son. When we open the door to
enter the building, a fly comes in with us. We stand before the great
painting, marveling at it's beauty... Suddenly the fly lands on the
painting right in front of us.
"My son asks, 'Father, does the fly see the painting.'
"That's hard to answer. My answer to you is 'The fly sees the painting..
but the fly does not see the painting.'" [Differing emphasis on the words
'the painting'.]
Following Maturana, I say, yes the animals display a tragedy... but it's
not a tragedy.
5. I began thinking more about TOC in nature. A short term story is
"parasites infest the host. They do well until the host dies." The longer
term story is "parasites kill the hosts, the host become extinct, the
parasites become extinct, too." So, as a result, the REALLY successful
parasites have already made themselves extinct; we don't see such species
(or their hosts) in nature today. To me, this is a funny little twist. I
don't know what to make of it.
6. Even more... I think there is a difference when the "common" is a
living entity vs. not. If the "common" is a living entity, then it will
adapt and change as a result of it's interaction with the people (or
animals) who are over-using it. The road doesn't adapt as a result of
excess traffic. The oil reservoir doesn't adapt as a result of pumping.
The bacteria adapt a lot as a result of overuse of antibiotics. I think
this distinction is important. Most of the non-human examples will be of
one species overusing some other living entity. This may be different from
human Tragedy of the Commons which can be humans overusing some inanimate
resource.
-=- Rick
>1. Is anyone aware of any cases of the TOC in the natural world in which
>human activity is NOT invloved? Or are instances of TOCs only found in
>connection with human behaviors?
>
>2. In the human domain, is anyone aware of any instances of TOCs within
>an organization, as opposed to between them? In other words, can TOCs be
>found inside individual companies or human organizations, or do they only
>emerge as a consequence of interactions BETWEEN companies, organizations,
>and individuals?
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