Contrast fishing (an international “commons”) with forestry (a series of national commons). Many countries have successful forestry programs that preserve quite decently; but the devastation caused by overfishing is extreme. These two industries are not fundamentally different, but the fact that one requires international cooperation and the other doesn’t seem to make all the difference. You could also glance at the successful international pollution reductions (eg CFCs and acid rain). A singleton should be able to do better than the painstakingly negotiated treaties of today!
On specifics, the WHO seems to have a pretty decent track record on pandemics (not nearly as good as it should me, much better than it could be). I’m not all that knowledgeable on the various rules governing fissile materials, but they seem to be working acceptably, in any place that they can be enforced. And, of course, regulations of synthetic biology and AI are essentially impossible without a singleton or extreme global coordination.
I don’t think that’s the relevant difference between forestry and fishing. Forestry can be easily parceled out by plot in a way that fishing can’t. Forests can be managed by giving one logging concern responsibility for a specific plot and holding them responsible for any overlogging in that area and for any mandated replanting.
Fishing has to be managed by enforcing quotas, this is a much more difficult problem even for a single government. I haven’t done research in fishing, but do we see fishing being managed well in areas that are under the jurisdiction of one government or governments with good cooperation (like the great lakes)? Or for species that’s habitat is within the coastal waters of one government?
Contrast fishing (an international “commons”) with forestry (a series of national commons). Many countries have successful forestry programs that preserve quite decently; but the devastation caused by overfishing is extreme. These two industries are not fundamentally different, but the fact that one requires international cooperation and the other doesn’t seem to make all the difference. You could also glance at the successful international pollution reductions (eg CFCs and acid rain). A singleton should be able to do better than the painstakingly negotiated treaties of today!
On specifics, the WHO seems to have a pretty decent track record on pandemics (not nearly as good as it should me, much better than it could be). I’m not all that knowledgeable on the various rules governing fissile materials, but they seem to be working acceptably, in any place that they can be enforced. And, of course, regulations of synthetic biology and AI are essentially impossible without a singleton or extreme global coordination.
I don’t think that’s the relevant difference between forestry and fishing. Forestry can be easily parceled out by plot in a way that fishing can’t. Forests can be managed by giving one logging concern responsibility for a specific plot and holding them responsible for any overlogging in that area and for any mandated replanting.
Fishing has to be managed by enforcing quotas, this is a much more difficult problem even for a single government. I haven’t done research in fishing, but do we see fishing being managed well in areas that are under the jurisdiction of one government or governments with good cooperation (like the great lakes)? Or for species that’s habitat is within the coastal waters of one government?