Garrett Hardin
Garrett Hardin
Garrett James Hardinwas an American ecologist and philosopher who warned of the dangers of overpopulation. His exposition of the tragedy of the commons, in a famous 1968 paper in Science, called attention to "the damage that innocent actions by individuals can inflict on the environment". He is also known for Hardin's First Law of Human Ecology: "You cannot do only one thing", which "modestly implies that there is at least one unwanted consequence"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEnvironmentalist
Date of Birth21 April 1915
CountryUnited States of America
To say that we mutually agree to coercion is not to say that we are required to enjoy it, or even to pretend we enjoy it.
Ecological differentiation is the necessary condition for coexistence.
The population problem has no technical solution; it requires a fundamental extension in morality.
Every measured thing is part of a web of variables more richly interconnected than we know.
Every plausible policy must be followed by the question 'And then what?'
The greatest folly is to accept expert statements uncritically. At the very least, we should always seek another opinion.
(Technology reliability) x (Human reliability) = (System reliability)
The only thing we can really count on in this uncertain world is human unreliability itself.
In the specific case of abortion, the matter is particularly easy in that no woman wants a late abortion. Once abortion was made legal, the age of the aborted fetus went down. The slope slipped in the other direction. If we legalize RU-486 and other similar new drugs, the age will fall to one week or less and start approaching zero. The slippery slope will slide in the other direction. The only reason we have late abortions is because we make early abortion difficult.
The morality of an act is a function of the state of the system at the time it is performed.
What features of your daily life do you expect to be improved by a further increase in population?
The essence of dramatic tragedy is not unhappiness. It resides in the solemnity of the remorseless working of things.
Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.
We can't cure a shortage by increasing the supply.