![]() ![]() Suppose the 50 of us in the lifeboat see 100 others swimming in the water outside, begging for admission to our boat or for handouts. To be generous, let us assume it has room for 10 more, making a total capacity of 60. So here we sit, say 50 people in our lifeboat. For example, a nation's land has a limited capacity to support a population and as the current energy crisis has shown us, in some ways we have already exceeded the carrying capacity of our land. What should the lifeboat passengers do?įirst, we must recognize the limited capacity of any lifeboat. In the ocean outside each lifeboat swim the poor of the world, who would like to get in, or at least to share some of the wealth. Metaphorically each rich nation can be seen as a lifeboat full of comparatively rich people. If we divide the world crudely into rich nations and poor nations, two thirds of them are desperately poor, and only one third comparatively rich, with the United States the wealthiest of all. ![]() Spaceship Earth certainly has no captain the United Nations is merely a toothless tiger, with little power to enforce any policy upon its bickering members. In their enthusiastic but unrealistic generosity, they confuse the ethics of a spaceship with those of a lifeboat.Ī true spaceship would have to be under the control of a captain, since no ship could possibly survive if its course were determined by committee. Since we all share life on this planet, they argue, no single person or institution has the right to destroy, waste, or use more than a fair share of its resources.īut does everyone on earth have an equal right to an equal share of its resources? The spaceship metaphor can be dangerous when used by misguided idealists to justify suicidal policies for sharing our resources through uncontrolled immigration and foreign aid. Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor by Garrett Hardin, Psychology Today, September 1974Įnvironmentalists use the metaphor of the earth as a "spaceship" in trying to persuade countries, industries and people to stop wasting and polluting our natural resources. Home Society Garrett Hardin Articles Books Videos Quotes Links Tributes ![]()
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