Mark U. Edwards Jr. Religion should be able to offer ethical guidance on even the most modern, high-tech dilemmas. One current problem, pitting individual self-interest against the common good, calls for special insight. Most Internet users have experienced times when the Web slows to a crawl. Such Web congestion illustrates a potentially tragic dilemma for our society. This problem is an old farming dilemma in a new form.
Herders seek to pasture as many of their cows as possible on the village's common land.
The benefit of each additional cow goes to the cow's owner, while the cost of the cow's grazing is shared among all who use the commons. Overgrazed, the pasture fails, and everyone's cows starve. The dilemma applies to most free, shared resources. Each is pursuing his or her self-interest and in so doing can bring overall Internet traffic to a crawl, if not a complete halt. First, technological solutions are not likely to work in the long run.