Dr. Garrett Hardin: Overpopulation, Survival and Morality

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PLOWBOY: Yet there must be some instances when we can come to the aid of another country without doing some irreparable damage.

HARDIN: Yes, there are, and I can best discuss this matter in terms of the concept of triage, which was first described by a physician in the Napoleonic army and can probably be best defined by using a military example. An army doctor might—during a period of extreme crisis—divide his or her cases into three groups ... and that three-part division is what is meant by triage. The physician will not treat the "walking wounded", those with injuries that—though they may be terribly painful—are not debilitating. Neither will the doctor care for casualties who am so severely wounded that they would require hours of treatment—under the hands of several physicians—to survive. Instead, the healer concentrates his or her efforts upon the "middle group": soldiers for whom a limited amount of medical care will mean the difference between life and death.

Now, the military institutes triage for purely practical reasons, in order to save the maximum number of soldiers for the next battle. But I think a compassionate doctor—under similar circumstances—would end up following much the same course of action ... even if he or she weren't concerned about the pursuit of the war.

PLOWBOY: Simply because, by instituting triage, a greater number of lives could be saved?

HARDIN: Yes, and I admit that it's a harsh-sounding means of establishing priorities.

PLOWBOY: Is it possible to make a connection between the use of triage in wartime and the world food shortages and overpopulation that mankind faces?

HARDIN: Yes, it is. However, I want to refer to the work of William and Paul Paddock on this matter, because they were responsible for applying the system of triage to such problems.

The Paddocks have said, essentially, thatthough we were able to give away quantities of grain in the 1950's and '60's—those days of surplus are over. From now on we'll probably have to sell most of our spare grain to get the money to My oil We may have a little bit left—a few million tons or so—that can be used to aid poor countries, but this will be a limited amount of food and there will be many nations asking for it.

At that point, the Paddocks suggest we use the system of triage ... in order to make sure that the grain goes where it will do the most good. We shouldn't give it to a country that is going to survive without it, and we can't afford to waste such a limited food supply on nations that are hopelessly overcrowded. Instead, we ought to give the wheat—or whatever—to the intermediate lands: those to whom the gift may mean the difference between maintaining civil order—and surviving as a nation—or not!

PLOWBOY: You've also expressed that idea in terms of aiding a country that is in a crisis, but not helping a nation that is in a "crunch".

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