Public goods are defined through their lack of two distinct types of externalities

- rivalry
- excludability

They are NOT defined by exclusion of other externalities e.g.

- being beneficial to society
- being more morally good than morally bad
- being inclusive and/or universally accessible

Founder /kiwi-news, a decentralized Hacker News

What does rivalry mean in this context?

Lack of competition? I am not sure that’s a necessary condition

Don’t want to sidetrack but my intuition does not align with any of these concepts lol

Reading a little more, it all sounds like “spherical chickens in a vacuum” 

In reality things get congested, need maintenance, require access, etc meaning competing for attention, funding, utility, etc is always relevant