Garrett Hardin, Living on a Lifeboat (1974)
Answer the questions in bold:
A. Lifeboat Ethics
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“What should the passengers on a rich lifeboat do? This is the central
problem of ‘the ethics of a lifeboat’”
first problem: each lifeboat is limited in capacity
1. What happens if we accept everyone?
2. What problem arises if we accept up to capacity?
3. What if people of conscience yield their places?
B. Reproduction
1. What are the differences between the population growth rate of rich
and poor countries?
2. What happens if a lifeboat fails to control its population growth?
C. Ruin in the Commons
1. What is wrong with public ownership?
2. Why does public ownership lead inevitably to ruin?
D. World Food Banks
1. What is wrong with the idea of a World Food Bank?
2. Why is the term “bank” a misnomer?
E. The Ratchet Effect
1. What is the “natural cycle” of population growth
2. Why might a population “cycle” will be replaced by population
“escalation” (the so-called “ratchet effect”)?
What is the author’s basic advice?