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.

KumquatHere are the notes I made about Ben in my last character guide:

• Environmental doomsday-ist, but cheerful
• Carries his own kumquats
• Published a bestseller on planetary destruction under Armbruster
• Mid-40s
• Moral absolutist

Jane Jacobs makes sure to show us just how special Ben is through his kumquat. It couldn’t be an orange or just anything you’d find at the Piggly Wiggly. He’s come to Armbruster’s prepared with his own kumquat to flavor his water.

Jacobs also establishes early that Ben’s a moral absolutist (or at least appears as such at first glance). He’s an environmentalist. Those not subscribing to his moral code are wasteful and ignorant. He’s not so sure he’s included in Kate’s two systems of esteemed behavior:

You’ve ignored a third method, one that’s not based on domination or on dog-eat-dog competition. It’s based on the common good. I’m thinking of the system that’s summed up by this principle: ‘From each according to his abilities, and to each according to his needs!’ “Why Two Syndromes?” Systems of Survival (p53)

The rest of Armbruster’s group manages to align his supporting examples with one of the two syndromes: common purse communities into the commercial syndrome and social welfare states into the guardian syndrome.

Jacobs remains every bit the economist here. The systems she establishes through Kate are based on methods of survival—norms that help us allocate goods and resources. This is the kind of thrift that is at the etymological root of “economy.”

Unfortunately, the tragedy of the commons illustrates that the common good isn’t always enough. Maximizing our own economic utility, or ability to survive, may just destroy the commons—and our ability to survive. Jared Diamond’s Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is rife with examples of how this plays out for societies over centuries.