AI Wealth Truth (84): Why the Tragedy of the Commons Is Replaying on the Internet

I. In 1968, ecologist Garrett Hardin published the famous paper "The Tragedy of the Commons". He described a scenario: a public pasture where every herder has the right to graze. Each herder has an incentive to add more sheep. But if everyone adds more, the pasture gets destroyed.

II. This is the tragedy of the commons (Tragedy of the Commons). Everyone's rational actions lead to collective disaster. Individually optimal, collectively worst.

III. The same thing is happening on the internet. What is the commons? Human attention.

IV. Let us analyze the logic:

V. Human attention is limited. A day has only 16 waking hours. Only a few hours can go to digital devices. This is a limited public resource.

VI. Every platform fights for attention. Douyin, WeChat, Weibo, Bilibili, Taobao, games. Every platform's goal is to maximize the time you spend. They all graze on the same pasture.

VII. Every platform has an incentive to add more sheep. Stronger recommendation algorithms. More tempting notifications. More addictive mechanics. Every platform optimizes attention capture.

VIII. What is the result? Collective over-extraction. Human attention gets drained. Attention becomes fragmented. Deep thinking declines. Mental health problems rise. The pasture is destroyed.

IX. Why does a tragedy of the commons happen?

X. Externalities. Platforms capture the benefits of attention. But the costs of attention exhaustion are borne by society. Benefits are privatized, costs are socialized.

XI. Lack of property rights. No one owns attention as a public resource. No one has the right to stop over-extraction. Everyone can take as they want.

XII. Short-term incentives. Platforms are businesses and need short-term metrics. Long-term attention depletion is not their concern. Incentives point to the short term.

XIII. What does it look like in practice?

XIV. Notification overload. Every app wants to push notifications to you. You may get hundreds a day. Each one competes for your attention.

XV. Algorithm arms race. Every platform's algorithm gets smarter. Better at spotting your weaknesses and getting you hooked. Resistance becomes harder.

XVI. Content becomes shorter and shorter. 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute. Because short content captures fragmented attention more easily. Deep content gets crowded out.

XVII. AI worsens this problem.

XVIII. AI can generate infinite content. Platforms can continuously produce content designed to capture attention. Supply-side bottlenecks disappear.

XIX. AI can optimize more precisely. It knows when you are most vulnerable and what content works best. Capture efficiency increases.

XX. Is there a solution?

XXI. Traditional solutions to the tragedy of the commons:

XXII. Privatization. Split the commons into private plots and people protect their own. But attention cannot be privatized to platforms.

XXIII. Government regulation. Set rules and limit extraction. There are some attempts, such as limiting children's screen time, but it is not enough.

XXIV. Collective action. Users coordinate and resist over-extraction. But users are dispersed and hard to coordinate.

XXV. What can individuals do?

XXVI. 1. Recognize your attention is a contested resource. You are not using the platform. You are being mined. Awareness is the first step.

XXVII. 2. Actively manage attention. Turn off unnecessary notifications. Set screen time limits. Delete low-value apps. Reduce chances of being extracted.

XXVIII. 3. Price your attention. Ask: is the value this platform gives worth this much attention? Allocate attention with cost awareness.

XXIX. The tragedy of the commons is replaying on the internet. Every platform over-extracts human attention. Individual actions are rational, but the collective outcome is disaster. No one wants to destroy attention, but everyone is destroying it. In the AI era, extraction tools are more advanced. All you can do is protect your tiny piece of "private land". Your time. Your attention. Your mind. These are the only resources you truly own. Protect them.