30
posted ago by Narg ago by Narg +30 / -0

As I write this, the show is about 15 minutes in (we're at the first commercial) and my only problem with Musk's commentary about AI so far is that he conflates GOVERNMENT "regulation" with ACTUAL, non-government regulation.

EVERY GOVERNMENT REGULATORY BODY IS CORRUPT and (at this point) becomes corrupted before even opening its doors. The first federal regulatory agency oversaw the railroads, and very quickly the Railway Barons understood that the agency could be used as a buffer between the Barons and the People.

When Congress created the first U.S. regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission, in 1887, the railroad barons it was meant to subdue quickly recognized an opportunity. 'It satisfies the popular clamor for a government supervision of railroads at the same time that that supervision is almost entirely nominal,' observed the railroad lawyer Richard Olney. 'Further, the older such a commission gets to be, the more inclined it will be found to take the business and railroad view of things. It thus becomes a sort of barrier between the railroad corporations and the people and a sort of protection against hasty and crude legislation hostile to railroad interests.'

From Understanding Obamacare, 2009, by Luke Mitchel in Harper's Magazine (link no longer active)

In contrast, private-sector regulators such as Underwriter Laboratories and the National Fire Protection Association -- both founded in the late 1800s -- provide (or did; the UL in particular has been co-opted by government in recent decades, I hear) honest regulation that -- very much unlike GOVERNMENT "regulation" -- benefits BOTH industry and the public. Prices stay low, safety is high, and corruption is kept to a minimum by the threat and/or actuality of competition.