As a science educator, I reserve Fridays to look at the big problems needing seriously creative solutions. This is an old one. It’s been around for centuries with no solution in sight. Garrett Hardin coined it “The Tragedy of the Commons”. If you are a reader, the link explains it well, but if you are more of a game player try this link instead. It is often used in economics, but really has applications in land use, oceans, airways, and space. I first heard about it at NASA from a scientist trying to optimize air traffic control at airports. We introduced it to the school with the hallways as an example. As much as we love to shout FREEDOM and discourage oversight, without rules and regulations, systems fail.
The internet was designed as an information sharing platform to connect the knowledge of the world and make it a better place. It connected universities and libraries to one another. Since its inception, questions of should it be regulated and should it be free for everyone have circled around. Many argue that it is a place of misinformation rather than fact finding and knowledge gathering. It has significantly changed the world, and it is not free. You are the commodity sold on the internet. Every click you make provides information to sell about you. Now AI is on the rise, and will undoubtedly change the world again. Should it be a Tragedy of the Commons or should regulations exist? Is the internet still a place for connecting and sharing knowledge, or have the algorithms taken all the control in the name of monetary advantage?
