How to Do the Right Thing When You Make No Difference

Calgary, Alberta is in a state of emergency after a water main broke that supplies more than half the city's water. In this video, I discuss why situations like this are so hard ethically. Calgary is a facing a collective action problem. If everyone wastes water, the city will quickly run out, but each person's water use makes no perceptible difference. Collective action problems are some of the hardest to solve. They're also everywhere. Enjoy!

[@ValueJudgments]

I forgot to mention vaccines! The most bioethics collective action problem there is!

[@sandhik1823]

Awesome video!! Reminds me of research I did for a paper recently on vaccines: herd immunity is a necessary collective action, but even those who don't get vaccinated benefit from the overall lowered rate of disease transmission.

[@avontaywilliams]

Another great video, Eric! If you're looking for another video idea, it might be fun to explore the main instrumental and non-instrumental approaches to collective action problems that attempt to explain the strength of our reasons to either engage in or refrain from engaging in various collectively beneficial / harmful activities

[@ValueJudgments]

Thanks! I plan on digging into the details more in another video.