Making Good Characters Rationally Self Destructive

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Aboutyears ago, back when I was in college and dinosaurs ruled the earth, I ran acrossGarret Hardin’slovely book,The Tragedy of the Commons. If you want to go out there and read it quickly, go ahead. It’s not long. I’ll wait.

The metaphor was the British Commons, where the townsfolk would share grazing land for their cattle. However, there was an incentive for an individual to sneak in and graze more than the others if he could get away with it. His cattle would get a little...