08w06:4 Smurfconomy Posted February 9th, 2008 by timothy. 0 Comments Goodreads | 2008 week 06 number 4 (Smurfconomy) Tragedy of the commons explained with Smurfs | Ryan Somma http://www.scq.ubc.ca/tragedy-of-the-commons-explained-with-smurfs/ “Our Earth is filled with finite resources that we, as the Human Race, exploit for personal gain. Oil, Fish Stocks, Forests, Clean Air, and water are just a few of the resources that nobody “owns,” but everybody needs in order to survive. However, in our current system, nobody who is taking away these natural resources from the whole of us has to pay back into the natural system. Thus, there is a great incentive to consume all of the available resources before somebody else gets to them, Garrett Hardin called this nuance the ‘Tragedy of the Commons.’ Let’s take Smurfs as a natural resource. There are 100 smurfs living in smurf village and they do not reproduce. Every Saturday in the 1980s, entertainment producers broadcast a show documenting the life and times of Smurf Village, and made money from the advertising revenue brought in from millions of viewers watching the show. The cartoon’s producers use the smurfs in the manufacture of intellectual goods.”
