Discussions on the commons typically evoke a certain discomfort. Initiators tend to resort to pathos, while for the audience the topic borders on an idealism associated with a lack of knowledge about “real life.” In the worst case, the discussion is reduced to the absurdity of sharing a toothbrush. Yet the history of common goods recalls what’s most fundamental: solidarity, community, self-governance, and localism. In a sense, these are the elements lost in the modernization process based on free-market principles, encompassing a range of social, technological, and economic changes that have been ongoing for over two centuries.