What is the tragedy of the commons？ - Nicholas Amendolare - video Dailymotion

TED-Ed

Is it possible that overfishing, super germs, and global warming are all caused by the same thing? In 1968, a man named Garrett Hardin sat down to write an essay about overpopulation. Within it, he discovered a pattern of human behavior that explains some of history’s biggest problems. Nicholas Amendolare describes the tragedy of the commons.  Lesson by Nicholas Amendolare, directed by TED-Ed.

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00:00Imagine, as a thought experiment, that you live in a small village

00:11and depend on the local fish pond for food.

00:15You share the pond with three other villagers.

00:18The pond starts off with a dozen fish, and the fish reproduce.

00:23For every two fish, there will be one baby added each night.

00:27So in order to maximize your supply of food, how many fish should you catch each day?

00:34Take a moment to think about it.

00:36Assume baby fish grow to full size immediately, and that the pond begins at full capacity,

00:42and ignore factors like the sex of the fish you catch.

00:46The answer?

00:48One.

00:49And it's not just you.

00:50The best way to maximize every villager's food supply is for each fisherman to take just

00:56one fish each day.

00:58Here's how the math works.

01:00If each villager takes one fish, there will be eight fish left overnight.

01:04Each pair of fish produces one baby, and the next day the pond will be fully restocked

01:09with 12 fish.

01:12If anyone takes more than one, the number of reproductive pairs drops,

01:17and the population won't be able to bounce back.

01:22Eventually, the fish in the lake will be gone, leaving all four villagers to starve.

01:28This fish pond is just one example of a classic problem called the tragedy of the commons.

01:34The phenomenon was first described in a pamphlet by economist William Forster Lloyd in 1833,

01:42in a discussion of the overgrazing of cattle on village common areas.

01:47More than 100 years later, ecologist Garrett Hardin revived the concept to describe what

01:53happens when many individuals all share a limited resource, like grazing land, fishing areas,

02:00living space, even clean air.

02:03Hardin argued that these situations pit short-term self-interest against the common good,

02:10and they end badly for everyone, resulting in overgrazing, overfishing, overpopulation,

02:16pollution, and other social and environmental problems.

02:20The key feature of a tragedy of the commons is that it provides an opportunity for an individual

02:26to benefit him or herself while spreading out any negative effects across the larger population.

02:33To see what that means, let's revisit our fish pond.

02:37Each individual fisherman is motivated to take as many fish as he can for himself.

02:42Meanwhile, any decline in fish reproduction is shared by the entire village.

02:48Anxious to avoid losing out to his neighbors,

02:51a fisherman will conclude that it's in his best interest to take an extra fish,

02:56or two, or three.

02:58Unfortunately, this is the same conclusion reached by the other fisherman,

03:02and that's the tragedy.

03:04Optimizing for the self in the short term isn't optimal for anyone in the long term.

03:09That's a simplified example,

03:11but the tragedy of the commons plays out in the more complex systems of real life, too.

03:17The overuse of antibiotics has led to short-term gains in livestock production,

03:22and in treating common illnesses.

03:24But it's also resulted in the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,

03:30which threaten the entire population.

03:32A coal-fired power plant produces cheap electricity for its customers

03:36and profits for its owners.

03:38These local benefits are helpful in the short term.

03:41But pollution from mining and burning coal is spread across the entire atmosphere,

03:46and sticks around for thousands of years.

03:49There are other examples, too.

03:51Littering, water shortages, deforestation, traffic jams,

03:56even the purchase of bottled water.

03:59But human civilization has proven it's capable of doing something remarkable.

04:04We form social contracts,

04:06we make communal agreements,

04:08we elect governments,

04:09and we pass laws.

04:11All this to save our collective selves from our own individual impulses.

04:17It isn't easy,

04:18and we certainly don't get it right nearly all of the time.

04:22But humans, at our best,

04:24have shown that we can solve these problems,

04:26and we can continue to do so if we remember Hardin's lesson.

04:31When the tragedy of the commons applies,

04:33what's good for all of us is good for each of us.

04:39TedEd is a non-profit.

04:42If you value our work, please consider supporting it on Patreon.com slash TedEd.

What is the tragedy of the commons？ - Nicholas Amendolare

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