“reproduces faster” than the whales. Driving such a “resource” to extinction is a good business practice under the grotesque priorities engendered by human cultural capitalism. This also touches on the so- called “tragedy of the commons,” another human dynamic. If you alone possess the wherewithal to extract a potentially-sustainable resource, you may consider it to be in your interest to use it slowly enough that the resource is not damaged and can continue to benefit you and your tribe. However, if you believe outgroups also can degrade the resource, you will tend to assume they have that intention, and adopt that intention yourself as a proactive measure! This “game theory” twist on human behavior has led to some very unfortunate resource usage, and to many species’ extinctions and depletions. You ascribe the worst possible motives to outgroups, and then competitively adopt their predicted destructive behaviors so as not to be relatively disadvantaged. Because, the idea of an outgroup getting a larger share of something than you do is as intolerable as getting a cucumber slice when other monkeys get grapes. The Bottom Line: Natural resource extraction follows a characteristic curve shape for slowly regenerating resources. Best first. Worst last.
The Red Queen Phenomenon
Summary: Oil fields are tapped using individual oil wells, like multiple straws stuck into the same milk shake. A cluster of oil fields forms an oil region. Oil fields and regions are only found in certain countries (sometimes straddling their borders, as with Iraq and Kuwait). All the oil regions, added
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