If we do not hang together, we will all hang separately.
~ Benjamin Franklin

People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.
~ Vince Lombardi

We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody.
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
~ Helen Adams Keller

We should not only use the brains we have, but all that we can borrow.
~ Thomas Woodrow Wilson

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

"You are informed about where you are coming from, not where you are going."
~Maasai Proverb

It is the enemy who can truly teach us to practice the virtues of compassion and tolerance.
~ Dalai Lama

It is probably not love that makes the world go around, but rather those mutually supportive alliances through which partners recognize their dependence on each other for the achievement of shared and private goals.
~ Fred A. Allen

In most of life we really are interdependent. We need each other. Staunch independence is an illusion, but heavy dependence isn't healthy, either. The only position of long-term strength is interdependence: win/win.
~ Greg Anderson

Pleasure usually takes the form of me and now; joy is us and always.
~ Marvin J. Ashton

No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
~ John Donne

Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg.
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

There are three ways of dealing with difference: domination, compromise, and integration. By domination only one side gets what it wants; by compromise neither side gets what it wants; by integration we find a way by which both sides may get what they wish.
~ Mary Parker Follett

Cooperation is an intelligent functioning of the concept of laissez faire -- a thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there.
~ Virginia Burden Tower

We are so bound together that no man can labor for himself alone. Each blow he strikes in his own behalf helps to mold the universe.
~ Jerome K. Jerome

If you want to be incrementally better: Be competitive. If you want to be exponentially better: Be cooperative.
~ Author Unknown

We do not exist for ourselves...
~ Thomas Merton

The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.
~ Bertrand Russell

Harvest: Survival of the Most Cooperative

How often do creatures go extinct, or seriously decline in numbers because they use up all their resources? What happens when bacteria overgrow the test-tube media? What happens when fishermen overfish a fishery? These are examples known as the tragedy of the commons.

For non-thinking creatures, this tragedy of the commons leads to death and sometimes even extinction. But for thinking creatures, like ourselves, we can prevent the tragedy of the commons by thinking ahead and working together.

Not only can we prevent tragedy, but by working together, we can all live more abundant lives.

This activity illustrates how cooperation can create abundance for each individual as well as avert tragedy. Dennis Meadows created a game called Fishbanks. Following is a shortened version of the game:

To run the game you need one medium-sized bowl, a whistle or bell, and 150 - 200 pieces of candy.

The game may be run for groups of from 3 to 15.

Here is a bowl with 50 pieces of candy in it.

In just a moment I will blow my whistle to start the first round. Then all of you will have 5 seconds to take from the bowl as many pieces of candy as you wish to or are able to grab.

After 5 seconds I will blow my whistle again, and you must stop.

After you stop, I will count how many pieces of candy are left in the bowl, and I will double them or bring the total up to 50, whichever requires fewer pieces of candy. So, for example, if you left 35 pieces in the bowl, I would add 15, making the total for the next round 50. If you left 20 pieces in the bowl, I would add 20.

After I have added the required number of pieces of candy, I'll give you a few moments to consider your strategy, and then I'll blow the whistle again to start the second round. In that round each of you will once again have 5 seconds to take as many pieces as you wish to or are able to grab.

After 5 seconds, I'll stop the round, count the candy, add the necessary pieces, and give you few moments to consider your strategy. Then I'll blow the whistle for the third round.

We will continue in this way for several cycles.

Your goal is to get as much candy for yourself as you can.

source

Harvest: Survival of the Most Cooperative

This page last updated July10, 2006. © Light Heart Media.

This page last updated July10, 2006.
© Light Heart Media.