Comedy of the commons
The Comedy of the Commons is an economic concept, developed as an opposite model to the tragedy of the commons. In the "comedy" individuals contribute knowledge and content for the good of the community rather than extracting resources for their own personal gain. Examples of this are free and open source software and Wikipedia. This phenomenon is linked to "viral" effects and increases in prominence as individuals contribute altruistically and for social gain. The term appears to have originated in an essay by Carol M Rose in 1986.[1]
It has also been known as the "cornucopia of the commons." by one writer.[2] The concept is sometimes called the inverse commons.
In this case commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable earth. These resources are held in common, not owned privately.
Tragedy, comedy and triumph
Triumph of the commons
The original essay "tragedy of the commons" by Garrett Hardin, who coined the term, has been criticised by Susan Jane Buck Cox who argues that the common land example used to argue this economic concept is on very weak historical ground, and misrepresents what she terms the "triumph of the commons"; the successful common usage of land for many centuries. She argues that social changes and agricultural innovation led to the demise of the commons; not the behaviour of the commoners.[3]
The prevalent outcome depends on the details of the situation. The inverse commons outcome is likely when the cost of the contribution is much less than its value over time. Information has this property. For example, it costs very little for a Wikipedia contributor to enter knowledge from their experience into Wikipedia's servers, and very little for Wikipedia to serve that information over and over again to readers, generating great value over time. Unlike the pasture of a physical commons, information isn't degraded by use. Thus the value of Wikipedia increases over time, attracting more readers of whom some become contributors, forming a virtuous cycle.[4][5][6]
See also
Notes
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- ↑ Susan Jane Buck Cox - "No tragedy on the Commons" Journal of Environmental Ethics, Vol 7, Spring 1985 [1]
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References
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