# tragedy of the commons (collective)

*Ordinarily means:* when everyone acting in their own interest ruins a shared resource

a drift in a parameter that narrows the window of a shared thing because no single model includes the whole, and so no maintenance acts on the whole

- Computed level: L15 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: commons

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [drift](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-drift.aimless), [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range), [narrow](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-narrow.spatial), [model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-model.representation), [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep)

**Through:** individual decisions that ignore shared limits

**Novel properties:**
- uncoordinated depletion
- unowned consequence

---
*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-tragedy-of-the-commons.collective*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-tragedy-of-the-commons.collective.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*