The Trouble with Hardin's Math

Garrett Hardin argues that the decisions we make in the present that affect either our immediate benefit or delay benefit for some future generation are like math problems that calculate the changing value of things based on interest. He thinks that when someone needs something in the immediate, his perception of the potential interest that could accrue to that 'something' in the future diminishes until the return is not worth the investment. To relate his example, the hungriest people will decide to eat grains allocated as seeds for future plantings now because they do not appreciate the value of saving them. The trouble with this assessment is that the interest isn't the part of the equation that changes. The grains will have the same value for future generations whether they are reluctantly forgone by the hungry or whether they are preserved by a united society. What really changes in the equation is the value of the 'something' in the first place. The hungriest desire the grain the most, so the initial value of the 'something,' the grain, is higher for them. The well-fed policemen in charge of protecting the grain see less value in the grain, so the investment is less of a sacrifice.

Of course, my correction of Hardin's math does absolutely nothing to help answer the seemingly impossible question of whether we "owe it" to posterity.

I also wanted make a critique of the conservation movement in light of Hardin's essay and his story of the poor Chinese in conflict with the priest. The conservation movement seeks to preserve nature for future generations, while ignoring the needs of the less privileged in the present. The Sierra Club, then, is like the well-fed policeman or priest, who guards the grain or tree, because they do not need it in the immediate present. I imagine the indigenous peoples of so many nations faced with mandates forbidding them from their subsistence practices can make the same point to conservationists: "Why do I have to serve posterity while you stuff your belly? Where is your sense of justice?"