In 1968, American ecologist and eugenicist Garrett Hardin published his essay, the “Tragedy of the Commons”, in Science magazine. It posited that humans, when left to their own devices, would “rationally” and individually exploit resources for their own gain, eventually destroying the resource altogether.

His main example was an open pasture shared by many herders. The herders compete with each other, with each rushing to increase the number of their stock, until the pasture is overrun with animals and everyone starves.

Hardin wasn’t the first to present this sort of argument – which at its core was a rallying cry for control over who was allowed to have children, but he helped popularise it in modern economic and political discourse.

It was, and still is, used as an example of why privatisation and control over resources is necessary – that the few must decide what is good for the many in order for us all to survive.

“Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all,” is one of the more popular lines in the essay, which is still used in arguments today.

But the tragedy in the tragedy of the commons was it always assumed the humans’ worst........

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