The hugest driving force behind the tragedy of the commons phenomenon, in my opinion, isn't necessarily the greed of humans. While that obvious does play a factor, I would suggest that it's actually the fear of other's greed. The niggling thought that "Everyone else is going to be selfish and take as much as they possible can, so I'd better do it too so I don't get left behind." Whether it's true or not that the rest of the community will actually do this, we each of us believe it is true, driving us to found our own fears. Which is why when regulation is proposed, and introduced, all but the greediest people will gladly work to make it happen... because then we know we're not going to lose our share to everyone else.
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