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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/5400607
This is a classic case of tragedy of the commons, where a common resource is harmed by the profit interests of individuals. The traditional example of this is a public field that cattle can graze upon. Without any limits, individual cattle owners have an incentive to overgraze the land, destroying its value to everybody.
We have commons on the internet, too. Despite all of its toxic corners, it is still full of vibrant portions that serve the public good — places like Wikipedia and Reddit forums, where volunteers often share knowledge in good faith and work hard to keep bad actors at bay.
But these commons are now being overgrazed by rapacious tech companies that seek to feed all of the human wisdom, expertise, humor, anecdotes and advice they find in these places into their for-profit A.I. systems.
You’re correct, although it’s not super relevant to the crux of the article.
Hardin was a white supremacist eugenicist who fabricated pretty much every ounce of support for his theory of “the tragedy of the commons” in an attempt to promote support for reducing the non-white population.
His work has been thoroughly debunked by Elinor Ostrom, who later won a Nobel Prize for her work on commons.
Yet the phrase — and myth — persists.
The Tragedy of the Commons is another of the foundational stories of capitalism, along with The Myth of Barter.