this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2024
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No it's not.
The tragedy of the commons is when too many people use a public resource in a way that is unsustainable. For example, air is not privatized but air pollution impacts everyone who checks notes uses air.
That's not to say there aren't solutions to the Tragedy of the Commons problem and resources cannot be made publicly available, but systems need to be created to manage common resources.
Close, but not.
The "overuse" is an aspect of mismanagement of the commons, it's not simply about overuse, it's about the management. The understanding that "someone just used up all that nice stuff" is poor, even in accordance with the author of this theory.
The tragedy is that the its so mismanaged that it allows an asshole to ruin it for everyone. That's not some default, that's what happens when you have poor management. Plenty of commons have good management and it's a known field and theory. If you want to go by this view, you can read Ostrom who actually researched the issue of management:
https://aeon.co/essays/the-tragedy-of-the-commons-is-a-false-and-dangerous-myth
https://tn.boell.org/en/2023/04/19/5-elinor-ostrom-et-les-huit-principes-de-gestion-des-communs (look for YouTube lectures too).
In practice, however, what you describe as the asshole greedily and selfishly taking from the commons is literally the act of privatization. Which is why the usual capitalist "solution" to this problem - official privatization - is a failure.
Here's also a humorous podcast explaining what's wrong with it: https://player.fm/series/srsly-wrong/ep-235-the-imaginary-tragedy-of-the-hypothetical-commons in case you like to listen.
So lucky I decided to get that gills-surgery