Week7-The Tragedy of the Commons

Garrett Hardin mentions population problems based on the theory of the commons. Hardin thinks that a finite world can support only a finite population and even given an infinite source of energy, population growth still produces an inescapable problem.Furthermore, Hardin pointed the tragedy of freedom in a commons. Because everyone has an equal right to share resource and as a rational being, everyone seeks to maximize our gain, this freedom of the commons will ruin the commons.

In addition, the pollution is another factor that causes the tragedy of the commons. Hardin indicates that the pollution problem is a consequence of population; thus, in order to avoid the tragedy of the commons, population control is required. We not only have to legislate and enforce the laws to control the population in the commons, but also need a education to put an end to the tragedy of the commons to lead people to be capable of making the corrective feedbacks on the legislation and administration of laws.

The tragedy of the commons is a conflict for resources between individual interests and the commons. As far as I'm concerned, the theory of the commons also applies on the Internet. Each netizen may do whatever they want and excessively abuse these virtual resources on the Internet (commons) because they think that their behaviors are not restricted by others in the commons. Therefore, there might be more and more advertising pollution on the Internet, such as spams, Ads, and even viruses. Those pollutions have impacted the internet and make people to feel bothered because they have to take more time to delete the spasm during their searching or browsing websites. I believe that the advertising pollution heavily degrades the value of the Internet.

In the age of information, the convenience of Internet will lead the development of democracy. It provides a communication platform that allows people discuss some public issues, like politics or economics. In contrast, because of the convenience of Internet, people can intend to spread rumors or improper things on the Internet without limitation and then cause the government unstable and the entire society disordered. If the government wants to promote E-government or E-democracy, like E-voting, it must establish some relative regulations to restrict people’s behavior on the Internet.