commons

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“
In fact, the tragedy of the commons is a multi-player prisoner's dilemma.

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Definitions (12)

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  1. The people; especially, the common people as distinguished from their rulers or a ruling class; hence, the mean; the vulgar; the rabble. The left comouns folowid the arke. Wyclif, Josh. vi. 9 (Oxf.). Thanne come there a kyng knyʒthod hym ladde, Miʒt of the comunes made hym to regne. Piers Plowman (B), Prol., l. 113. What comyn folke is so mighty, so strong in the felde, as the comyns of England ? English State Papers (1515), quoted in Froude's Hist. [Eng., I. 27.
  2. Specifically The freemen of England as organized in their early shires, municipalities, and guilds; the represented people. The three estates of clergy, lords, and commons finally emerge as the political constituents of the nation, or, in their parliamentary form, as the lords spiritual and temporal and the commons. This familiar formula in either shape bears the impress of history. The term commons is not in itself an appropriate expression for the third estate; it does not signify primarily the simple freemen, the plebs, but the plebs organised and combined in corporate communities, in a particular way for particular purposes. The commons are the “communitates” or “universitates,” the organised bodies of freemen of the shires and towns; and the estate of the commons is the “communitas communitatum,” the general body into which for the purpose of parliament those communities are combined. The term, then, as descriptive of the class of men which is neither noble nor clerical, is drawn from the political vocabulary, and does not represent any primary distinction of class. Stubbs, Const, Hist., § 185.
  3. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and in the Dominion of Canada, the lower house of Parliament, consisting in both instances of the commoners chosen by the people as their representatives; the House of Commons. This title was also given to the lower branch of the legislature of North Carolina from 1776 to 1868.
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Examples (50)

  • In fact, the tragedy of the commons is a multi-player prisoner's dilemma. —  Howard Rheingold on collaboration
  • Shun Fukazawa finished with a presentation of the Japanese Wikipedia and Wikia sites.While the discussions focused on diverse topics, many themes came up on a regular basis, and everyone agrees that the commons is a multicultural, multilingual environment.
  • In summary, I think that as long as there is ample incentive for rapid evolution in technology in license-exempt spectrum, a tragedy of the commons will be avoided because better, more robust systems will continually emerge. —  Wi-Fi Networking News
  • The article doesn't mention the tragedy of the commons, which is nowhere near happening yet, in which if EvDO becomes so popular, speeds could drop. —  Wi-Fi Networking News
  • Strakbein said the commons will be a place for students to gather and study and a great community resource. —  The Vail Trail - All Sections
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Etymologies (1)

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  1. from Middle English comons, comouns, comyns, plural of comon, etc.: see common, n.
 

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