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A technical solution may be defined as one that requires a change only in the techniques of the natural sciences, demanding little or nothing in the way of change in human values or ideas of morality.

Garrett Hardin

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Garrett Hardin
Age: 88 †
Born: 1915
Born: April 21
Died: 2003
Died: September 14
Biologist
Demographer
Ecologist
Statistician
University Teacher
Dallas
Texas
Garrett James Hardin
Garrett J. Hardin
Humans
Values
Sciences
Nothing
Natural
Technical
Way
Change
Solution
Littles
Technique
May
Defined
Ideas
Requires
Little
Solutions
Demanding
Human
Morality
Techniques

More quotes by Garrett Hardin

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You can never do merely one thing. The law applies to any action that changes something in a complex system. The point is that an action taken to alleviate a problem will trigger several effects, some of which may offset or even negate the one intended.
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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.
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Of course, a positive growth rate might be taken as evidence that a population is below its optimum.
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The only kind of coercion I recommend is mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon by the majority of the people affected.
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Throughout history, human exploitation of the earth has produced this progression: colonize-destroy-move on.
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A finite world can support only a finite population therefore, population growth must eventually equal zero.
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In a competitive world of limited resources, total freedom of individual action is intolerable
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But as population became denser, the natural chemical and biological recycling processes became overloaded, calling for a redefinition of property rights.
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(Technology reliability) x (Human reliability) = (System reliability)
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In an approximate way, the logic of commons has been understood for a long time, perhaps since the discovery of agriculture or the invention of private property in real estate.
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The god who is reputed to have created fleas to keep dogs from moping over their situation must also have created fundamentalists to keep rationalists from getting flabby. Let us be duly thankful for out blessings.
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We see only what we have names for.
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Value is a relative concept: the value of each action is determined by comparing it with other possible actions.
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes the family as the natural and fundamental unit of society. It follows that any choice and decision with regard to the size of the family must irrevocably rest with the family itself, and cannot be made by anyone else.
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Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons.
Garrett Hardin
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Religious reasons, which is no reason. I notice Skeptic had a review of Dennett's book, Darwin's Dangerous Idea. Religious reasons amount to what Dennett terms skyhooks. Do you believe in skyhooks? I don't.
Garrett Hardin
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The optimum population is, then, less than the maximum.
Garrett Hardin
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The essence of dramatic tragedy is not unhappiness. It resides in the solemnity of the remorseless working of things.
Garrett Hardin
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But it is no good using the tongs of reason to pull the Fundamentalists' chestnuts out of the fire of contradiction. Their real troubles lie elsewhere.
Garrett Hardin
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In a finite world this means that the per capita share of the world's goods must steadily decrease.
Garrett Hardin