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Thought Experiment 82: The Freeloader

2/27/2017

4 Comments

 
Picture
Lovable leeches.
Ah now here's a thought experiment aimed squarely at an issue that often comes up in evolution.

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     Eleanor was delighted with her new broadband connection. Having been used only to dial-up, she loved the fact that now her internet connection was always on, and also that surfing and downloading was so much quicker. And it was a bonus that it happened to be completely free.
     Well, to say it was free was perhaps a little misleading. Eleanor paid nothing for the service because she was using her neighbour's WiFi connection, otherwise known as a wireless Local Area Network. This enabled any computer within a limited range, as long as it had the right software and hardware, to connect without cables to a broadband internet connection. It so happened that Eleanor's apartment was close enough to her neighbour's for her to use his connection.
     Eleanor didn't see this as theft. The neighbour had the connection anyway. And she was only using his excess bandwidth. In fact, a neat piece of software called Google Magpie made sure that her use of the connection never slowed her neighbour down by more than a negligible amount. So she got the benefit of his connection, but he didn't suffer as a result. What could be wrong with that?

Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 244.
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Just this past week, I received a comment on an old post about how "the rational strategy for an individual is to be as much of a free rider as they can get away with." I dismissed that comment rather quickly, but on Friday I'll have a chance to examine this issue in a little more depth. What do you think? Is Eleanor's behaviour really a problem? When exactly does freeloading need to cost?

4 Comments
REmo Cosentino
2/28/2017 06:24:55 pm

The problem is the reasoning or "rationale" for her behavior. "So she got the benefit of his connection, but he didn't suffer as a result." That may be the result in the instance. Extend the rationale to other scenarios; she sees the neighbor's mail lying unguarded and notices a book that she would like to read and she takes it, deciding that he won't miss it. Similarly. Fresh Direct has left a box of food outside a neighbor's door. Eleanor, home from work, did not stop to shop for dinner. She sees a steak in the box. Why not? It will save a trip to the store and she can eat much sooner. And so on…when is it permissible to appropriate services or material that is not yours, simply because you think it will not harm the person from whom you are "borrowing" the service or material?

Reply
@EdGibney link
3/1/2017 10:16:47 am

Thanks Remo. I think that Eleanor in this story might attempt to differentiate between the "harmlessness" of skimming wifi and taking steak, but that would require her to differentiate between types of economic goods and who exactly is being harmed. I'll definitely touch on this in Friday's post.

Reply
Chuck Schneider
3/3/2017 02:29:12 am

Eleanor's neighbor could keep his wifi secure if he choose to do so. By, leaving open for anyone to us, it seems to be okay. Ie Not infringing on neighbor. If she uses it a lot, she should probably get her own connection, or offer to pay part of neighbor's costs.

The whole internet, various service providers, and apps seem to " give away free" something that is not free. If some internet entity gives me something free, then uses info about me ( with or without my knowledge), is also a way of "getting something free" that could cause me harm at sometime.
Are we dealing with privacy matters here as well. When can I use some else's private things? If I copy (or share as it is often now called on FB) some of your brilliant material from this website (without your Okay) is that okay, or free for me to use?

Reply
Chuck Schneider
3/3/2017 02:59:24 am

What if the neighbor hooked up a listening devise so that he could,listen in (or gain axcess ) to Elenor's communications? Does she have a right to expect privacy? Now we have drones that can "look in" on what other people may feel that is an invasion of their privacy.

Are these questions about "common courtesy " or some moral or ethical issues?
In general, I feel they are mostly common courtesy matters.

Reply



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