Lifeboat ethics

Hardin's 1968 "Tragedy of the Commons" article calls attention to the problem of human overpopulation, and describes his perception of the current prevailing sentiment, which he asserts was influenced by Adam Smith's invisible hand concept of economics, leading to a general belief "that decisions reached individually will, in fact, be the best decisions for an entire society.

"[1]: 1244  Hardin rebutted that sentiment by citing an 1833 pamphlet written by William Forster Lloyd, giving an example in which allowing herdsmen unfettered access to a shared resource (in this case, a commons or pasture ground) would result in each herdsman concluding it was in their best interest to add more animals to their herd, inevitably leading to the exhaustion of that finite resource.

He concluded: "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.

He argued that "freedom to breed" coupled "with the belief that everyone born has an equal right to the commons [the world's resources]" would inevitably lead to disaster.

[3] To make the metaphor more concrete, Hardin adds the lifeboat's capacity (60), current status (50 on board, and 100 swimmers), and proposes three potential solutions: Other issues which can be raised include: The third point regarding low supply of food had happened in reality before.