this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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The memes of the climate
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I don't see how a library economy would work with a lot of things. Like, if I wanted to do a house cleaning day, I go to the cleaning library and rent a vacuum. But what if I drop something on the floor...I have to check out a vacuum, just to clean it up? Then what if all the vacuums are checked out? It really seems horrible inefficient and a logistical nightmare.
Yeah it’s not really a feasible idea, imo. People are terrible and it would be a classic tragedy of the commons.
The 'tragedy of the commons' is very much exaggerated and misunderstood. It is 100% possible to collectively govern commons without a tragedy situation, and there are plenty of examples of it happening in real life. The economist Elinor Ostrom actually won a Nobe Prize in Economics for demonstrating this.
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2012/06/17/elinor-ostroms-work-on-governing-the-commons-an-appreciation/ https://aeon.co/essays/the-tragedy-of-the-commons-is-a-false-and-dangerous-myth
The real tragedy of the commons is that we lost the commons to the wealthy elite. We can govern the commons collectively by ourselves without the need for governments, corporations, or the influence of money. I also have a hard time imagining someone deciding that they need 10 wheelbarrows and taking them all from the library, which can acquire more. Are there people checking out every copy of Harry Potter from a book library just to deprive others from reading it?
A library economy doesn't mean you can't also own things. You can own a vacuum, and then borrow a steamer for the big spring cleaning. Or say you're like me and vacuums aren't necessary most of the time. Instead of owning one, I could go and get one once a month.
Interesting! Would there be a limit to how much any person can "check out" or for how long? How is this different from renting tools in the current system?
So most of what I see about a library economy is that you can use items indefinitely, and I absolutely think that we should have that ability. The actual mechanism of how it works is up in the air, and hasn't been deeply explored to my knowledge. What I imagine is that people say "I need this for x time" and it gets catalogued. If someone tries to check out a luxury item (imagine like a book or something) after the due date, they must return the other item first or has the option to extend the borrowing term as far as needed. Things that would be essential would still be available, but the person gets reminded about their obligation to the community to have the item returned.
As for how it's different, an everything library can exist in some capacity in all systems. The difference is that a library economy allows for items to be used without cost, and doesn't commoditize the items. It creates a system of mutual respect towards the rest of the community, and incentivizes groups of people to act creatively together for projects. It functions more like a store where you don't buy anything and return it to the community, rather than paying money to use a tool for a week. It also incentivizes highly durable, extremely usable objects (imagine the right to repair, but without any anticonsumer behavior)