Libertarian types just don’t understand the problem!

In 1968, ecologist Garrett Hardin wrote a scholarly essay titled, The Tragedy of the Commons where he explained why people have to share and accept limitations in life. It’s literally a requirement for the continued existence of Homo sapiens to understand this. Our inability to comprehend why is the main reason I have long believed that the continued existence of Homo sapiens is not only “in doubt”, but extinction is inevitable.

But that’s another topic … and in line with my conviction that it really is inevitable … it’s not one that I choose to explore.[1]

I don’t actually recommend reading Garrett Hardin’s essay. Since he was a genuine scholar, it’s not casual beach reading. But the idea itself is essential to understanding your world. Hardin takes his title from an old European tradition, the “village commons”. Especially in the English countryside, there was often an area in each village called the “commons” where everyone in the village had a right to graze their livestock. Boston has one too, since it’s a copy of Olde England. But they don’t graze livestock there anymore.

This worked out well when everyone understood that this right was not unlimited and the number of villagers was held down by an occasional plague, war, or famine. But when Mr. Grundlechomp moves to the village and starts to graze his livestock on the village commons, things change.

Having acquired great wealth by clever schemes, Grundlechomp reasons that if he puts another cow on the commons, he will enjoy the whole benefit of the cow. But everyone who uses the commons – all the villagers – will bear the cost: consumption of grass and water, what the cow leaves behind and so forth.  Gain: 1 cow.  Loss: the maintenance of 1 cow divided by the number of villagers. Grundlechomp realizes that it’s a no-brainer. So, he adds a cow. Then another cow. Then another cow.

Farmer Whinealot on the other side of the commons sees that the commons is starting to look like the village feedlot instead of a nice, green pasture and complains to the Lord Mayor, reasoning that since the Lord Mayor often dines with Grundlechomp in the magnificent Grundlechomp mansion, he might be able to reason with him. But no … the Lord Mayor insists that everyone, Grundlechomp included, has a right to graze livestock on the commons. Licking his wounds, Whinealot buys some cows and grazes them on the commons.

This happens a lot in life. It’s the basis for the very existence of laws. But recently, I suspect that a specific instance just bit me in the ass.

I live in a rural area with hills and mountains. I solved this problem around fifteen years ago by realizing that I could put a cellular antenna on my roof and route the signal from a distant cell tower down to the interior of my house with a signal booster. I congratulated myself for my exceptional perspicacity. It’s worked fine for at least fifteen years.

About two months ago, my system started failing, but only while the sun was up. Seriously! I didn’t realize this for a week or so. But I now know that it will fail as soon as the sun comes up and work perfectly again once the sun disappears. As a veritable Internet addict, the agony of withdrawal has been terrible. My whole life has been altered. Now, I get up at 4 AM to be able to use the Internet for a precious few hours.

Recently, our local Lord Mayor has been crowing loudly about solving the cell phone problem that has plagued our fine community. CEO’s of major communications companies were contacted. Contracts for community tower installations were signed.  I didn’t put 2 and .4 gigahertz together until I also found FCC Order 13-21, “Rules to Improve Wireless Coverage Through the Use of Signal Boosters”. Fascinating Reading!

The discussion in the order opened my eyes to the very real possibility that the Lord Mayor’s improvements are what trashed my ability to receive cellular Internet signals. (But I can see now that I still have much to learn about it.)

I was dismayed to also see that the entire order was dedicated to making sure that my little signal booster wouldn’t harm other networks. None of it paid any attention to making sure other networks didn’t destroy my little WiFi heaven.

Fortunately, I did consider other networks in setting up mine.

A “Faraday cage” (a term and concept totally missing in the Order) is a space enclosed in a metal barrier that prevents radio signals from entering, or leaving, the space. My house is completely enclosed in the building material “stucco”. Stucco is applied over metal lath. That makes the interior of my house a Faraday cage. It’s easy to tell. Walk out the door and your cell phone stops working. So, my boosted signal couldn’t be interfering with other networks. Unfortunately, the reverse is not true.

I also learned that the FCC Order set up a gaggle – maybe two or three gaggles – of new rules about signal boosters, none of which I was even faintly aware of. I’m not sure if I’m in flagrant violation of FCC rules or not. But it seems quite clear that Internet and cell phone service providers – and nearly all manufacturers – are in flagrant violation. But since I’m just a little guy with no money, the FCC will undoubtedly come after me, and not them.

Keep in mind that I have invested many, many  hours talking to various people at my service provider (one of the big four referenced in the FCC order). I have read volumes of articles (in the dead of night when my Internet connection works) to try to understand why my system wasn’t working in the day. No one at media forums (like the “Internet” sub-Reddit) could shed any light on my problem. People working in my provider’s retail stores know nothing about it. And nobody ever suggested that there was any FCC order. I had to find that totally on my own.

So what is a believer in civilization and the rule of law to do? Honestly, it sounds like an opportunity to get into interesting trouble to me. It’s been ages since I was in a pie fight like this could be.

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[1] A twist on the metaphor of The Grasshopper and the Ant is one way I explain my feelings about this. The twist is, “The Grasshopper was right!” I don’t like to dwell on the ultimate conclusion, but I’m willing to discuss the abstract philosophy behind my reasoning.