[ppml] Policy Proposal 2007-15: Authentication ofLegacyResources

[Paul Vixie]

> So, you have 100 people and water for 50.
> 
> It isn't a question of storage, it is of allocation.  What would you  
> propose?  FCFS?  "To each according to need"?  A market?

can you define more of the constraints?  if it's all the fresh water left in
the universe, after which everyone is going to die, then i'd pick 1/N.  if
it's all the convenient water but there's lot of other water over the hill
that folks are going to have to walk to, then i'd pick FCFS.  in no case
would i work to create a market, since that would almost certainly lead to
suffering by the youngest and most infirm.

> > Rationing is only *prudent* for things that have no actual importance.
> 
> Actually, rationing is a normal mechanism to cope with situations in which
> you have greater demand than supply, regardless of the importance of the
> resource.

i can't think of an example where rationing was used for a fixed resource
which was going to run completely and forever out at a predictable moment.