[Noisebridge-discuss] [intellectual claptrap] Toward a theory of utilization

[Tony Longshanks LeTigre]

On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 9:10 AM, jim <jim at systemateka.com> wrote:

>
> don't forget the tragedy of the commons.


I suppose I didn't specify, but I had in mind private property, not common
resources. The "tragedy" you're referring to is a huge beast I'm not gonna
tackle just yet, except that I don't think further privatization is the
answer: down that road lies dollar signs, madness & plutocracy. With regard
to, oh-I-don't-know-let's-just-say private property in the form of real
estate, here in SF, where we have 30,000 vacant housing units (according to
the most recent U.S. Census) contrasted w/ supposedly low vacancy
rates/housing shortages + astronomical rent rates + perhaps as many as
10,000 homeless people, consider this: a house or other livable property
owned essentially as a commodity by its multi-property-owner is entered &
used for shelter by said homeless persons or their allies. Obviously, not
all 10,000 of the homeless people can fit in that one shelter; that would
indeed "deplete the commons." But if the statistics we have to work with
are correct, we have 30,000 vacant units & only 10,000 homeless persons (&
10,000 is probably a high estimate—"official" counts are usually more in
the 3,000 to 5,000 range). Do a simple subtraction there & it would appear
there is no Tragedy of the Commons but rather a Tragedy of Privatization (&
a Question of the Surplus!) Thus the stock liberal/libertarian warning of
the commons dilemma is little more than a bogeyman.

*Vis*-à-*vis* NoizBrig though, I'll own that the commons dilemma is plain
to see, along w/ so many other social issues—fascinating microcosm that it
is. I'd term it a "comedy" or "tragicomedy of the commons" though, in that
context; to wit: I was just reading up on different forms of
symbiosis/mutualism & this jumped out at me:

*A commensal relation based on shelter is seen in clown
fishes<http://www.reference.com/browse/clown%20fishes>
 (Amphiprion percula), which live unharmed among the stinging tentacles of
sea anemones, where they are protected from predators. Numerous birds feed
on the insects turned up by grazing mammals, while other birds obtain soil
organisms <http://www.reference.com/browse/soil%20organisms> stirred up by
the plow. Various biting lice, fleas, and louse
flies<http://www.reference.com/browse/louse%20flies>
 are commensals in that they feed harmlessly on the feathers of birds and on
 sloughed-off flakes of skin from mammals. *

Clown fishes, stinging tentacles, various biting lice & fleas, sloughed-off
flakes....damned if that passage doesn't put ya in mind of NB in its less
lovable moments! There is something to be said here about parasites vs.
commensalites & other non-harmful/beneficial symbionts, but I'm too tired
to say it right now....

+11+
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