You might’ve noticed a fall off in post frequency here. It’s not all Systems of Survival’s fault, though I have been less compelled as Jane Jacobs speaks through fictional characters. The content’s good and I’m determined to get through it.

Last week, I took a closer look at kumquat-carrying Ben, who, when looking at Kate’s two distinct lists of “esteemed behavior” insisted that there must be a third method. Though he was shot down by the rest of Armbruster’s coterie, he invoked the “common good.” If you’ve been following my updates on facebook or twitter between my posts here, you already know that this inspired me to reread Garrett Hardin’s “The Tragedy of the Commons.”

Hardin looks at problems lacking a “technical solution.” Such problems cannot be solved through better understanding or application of the natural sciences. He looks specifically at the population problem:

The population problem has no technical solution; it requires a fundamental extension in morality.

That’s no short order.

Jacobs’ moral syndromes or lists of “esteemed behavior” were forged through trial and error over generations by rational actors. Without that “rational actors” economics parlance, it means that these syndromes emerged because those who subscribed survived.

Environmental problems, such as those concerning essayist Hardin, fictional Ben, and plenty of other real life parties (including me), fall into this “technical solution”-less category. While problem identification may require technical skill and application, the extension of morality Hardin calls for might only be forged under in the crucible of survival.

Unless…

There might just be some way of appealing to both syndromes, but for different reasons.