the TRAINS thread

[JurisDictum]

Originally Posted by d3r14k [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

At least in recent history, anything of value that is discovered there (ivory, diamonds, ore deposits) creates a massive shitstorm of infighting and violence that doesn't take long to escalate to genocide.

It makes me wonder how low the poverty lines have to reach before things can devolve to that level in western countries. Ultimately lack of wealth is what drives these everyday normal people to throw away their morality at the drop of a hat in the face of a valuable resource. They think having something of value will improve their quality of life but it ends up coming at a great expense and ends up actually decreasing overall quality of life for the community, country, and eventually the whole damn continent.

We call this "tragedy of the commons" in game theory. The example is: Imagine a field with enough grass to feed 15 cows that is on common land (anyone can use). Because people only care about their cows -- and not other cows -- they continue to bring cows there well after the 15 mark.

This ends up producing a lot less beef having 60 starving cows on the lot -- rather than 15 well fed ones. But people still have no incentive to take their cows off the lot, because they only benefit from their cows.

It is inevitable that the lot will be covered with shit and starving cows.