Wikipedia:
Quote:
The tragedy of the commons is a phrase used to refer to a class of phenomena that involve a conflict for resources between individual interests and the common good. The term derives originally from a parable published by William Forster Lloyd who was Drummond Professor at Oxford and a Fellow of the Royal Society, in his 1833 book on population.
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The parable demonstrates how unrestricted access to a resource such as a pasture ultimately dooms the resource because of over-exploitation. This occurs because the benefits of exploitation accrue to individuals, while the costs of exploitation are distributed between all those exploiting the resource.
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That was the parable to which I was referring. The Wiki entry also notes that
Quote:
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It was then popularized and extended by Garrett Hardin in his 1968 Science essay "The Tragedy of the Commons".
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BTW, the overpopulation scientists were kind of humbled when the growth curve started its downtrend in the 1980s. "Oops." Our doomsaying always sounds better when it's semi-scientific.