Hayden

Response #4: Tragedy of the Commons

In Hardin’s article, Tragedy of the Commons, he discusses the “tragedy” in respect to the commons, as an inescapable destruction of our shared resourcescatalyzed by man’s treatment of the world. Within the article Hardin gives a prime example of how man can produce such an effect, through the utilization of a group of herdsman whose commons is the grazinggrounds that they share to raise and feed their livestock. In this example, the herdsman are subject greed which is a trait every man shares, and as such they all decide that they would profit more ifthey added additional livestock to the grazing grounds. Unfortunately within this example, the herdsman’s plans would backfire as the addition of livestock causes the grazing grounds to be depletedlosing the most valuable of resources for these herdsmen. This example while vary basic, is reminiscent of the problems people face with today’s shared resources or “commons.”

In today’s modernsociety, civilization has adapted to a world powered by the digitalization of resources. This “digitalization” was a result of Web 2.0, which is utilized by many consumers throughout the world. TheInternet seems to be an unending resource and copious consumers exploit the fact that the Internet is ever growing. Many sites have offered free resources over the Internet which used to cost money toprint and publish, resulting in many non-contemporary businesses such as the news paper firms to decline in sales, revenue, and profit. Unfortunately this is not the end of the exploitation, as othervaluable resources such as books and music from almost every artist have been freely shared throughout the Internet through torrents, illegal websites, and other file sharing networks. Thisexploitation has resulted in a negative impact among the Internets many users, as government regulation has stepped in and corporations have begun to charge fees to use their resources. What was once a...