Agents exploit a shared renewable resource — cooperation vs. defection on a grid
The Tragedy of the Commons (Hardin 1968) describes how rational self-interest leads to collective ruin when individuals exploit a shared resource. Here, cooperators harvest conservatively while defectors over-extract. Defectors gain short-term advantage, but if they spread too far, the shared resource collapses — hurting everyone. Spatial structure, mutation, and resource growth rates determine whether cooperation can survive.
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