Template talk:Unintended consequences

Inclusion criteria
I think we need to impose a bit of discipline on what is in this template. Can we have a verifiable rule enunciated about what should be in this template? I suggest that at a minimum, there should be at least one reliable source describing a particular concept as an instance of unintended consequences. LK (talk) 07:00, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Agreed. I came here to object to the inclusion of Tragedy of the commons. The "tragedy" occurs when a given situation arises. A situation has no "intentions", it is not a program or intervention, so I don't see how "Unintended Consequences" is relevant. Sondra.kinsey (talk) 15:36, 21 October 2017 (UTC)


 * You say,, that the tragedy of the commons is a situation, and not the kind of thing that could have an intention. Yes of course. To think a tragedy could have an intention would be a category mistake. But how do you conclude from that that a tragedy cannot be an unintended consequence? That is seriously confused logic. Here is a reliable source which characterizes the tragedy of the commons as the "classic case of unintended consequences":


 * * McGuire, Randall H. (2008) Archaeology as Political Action pages 43–44, University of California Press. ISBN 9780520254916.


 * And here are two more reliable sources which assert that the tragedy of the commons is an unintended consequence:


 * * Hull, David (2001) Science and Selection: Essays on Biological Evolution and the Philosophy of Science page 140, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521644051.


 * * Thiele, Leslie (2011) Indra's Net and the Midas Touch: Living Sustainably in a Connected World page 22, MIT Press. ISBN 9780262297974


 * You can find other reliable sources, also pointing out the obvious, here and here. --Epipelagic (talk) 09:29, 22 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Nevermind what I think. Your sources are good. I accept the inclusion of unintended consequences on this template. Sondra.kinsey (talk) 19:08, 23 October 2017 (UTC)