Reference no: EM133363945

Assignment: You are required to read the article titled" the Tragedy of the Commons" by Garett Hardy and answer the following questions:

1. Give three problems that have "no technical solution".
2. In Hardin's opinion, what are some characteristics of a "technical solution"?
3. Is the amount of resources in the world infinite or finite? Why?
4. What do maintenance calories do for people?
5. What does Hardin believe must happen to the amount of work (like gourmet meals & art) if we are to have the maximum number of people? What is his reason?
6. Hardin says we must choose between two "goods" - the greatest number of people or the greatest good per person. Does Hardin believe that humans can maximize both at the same time?
7. He then says that we cannot work toward optimizing the population until we defeat the ideas of Adam Smith.
8. What is the definition of "tragedy" that is given to us by Hardin?
9. The example given by Hardin is a commons. What is a commons?
10. Hardin argues that in order to maximize their profits, each herder continues to add cattle to the commons. Why can this behavior not continue indefinitely?
11. What is one positive aspect in adding a cow, and one negative aspect in adding a cow to the commons?
12. Hardin uses the example of fishing in the open sea as a tragedy of the commons. Describe how this is a good example.
13. Pollution is the reverse of when we take things out of the commons. Explain.
14. Hardin gives the examples of atmosphere and water. These cannot be owned by anyone. Why is that different than grazing land or a National Park?
15. What is the "old saying" about rivers and how long it takes to purify the water? Why can modern societies no longer rely on this method?
16. Hardin states that " the pattern of ancient ethics and therefore are poorly suited to governing a complex, crowded, changeable world". He goes on to say that it is very difficult to pass laws to govern all possibilities and therefore government turns to the bureaucracy to make laws work. Why is this not a good idea according to Harden? (N.B. Who polices the police?)
17. Do you believe that Hardin feels we can pass laws to solve the Tragedy of the Commons?
18. What is your opinion about the article?