It's funny, I was just thinking about this story (the mid-air collision and the formation of the FAA) when reading about Elon Musk's determination to carve out a lawless frontier among the stars yesterday.
https://twitter.com/IniquitousFish/status/1322552412222095366
We didn't have an FAA until two planes collided over the grand canyon, which was the first airplane disaster to cost more than a hundred lives. "Regulations are written in blood," as they say.
We could not have commercial flight at nearly the level we do, for transit or shipping or any other purpose, without air traffic controllers and safety regulations. Could not.
"But the free market could do all that more efficiently!"
Nope. Here on earth, in actual history, the newly-formed aviation industry lobbied the government to create safety regulations because they believed their growth was constrained by the absence of them.
Nope. Here on earth, in actual history, the newly-formed aviation industry lobbied the government to create safety regulations because they believed their growth was constrained by the absence of them.
I think they were just less short-sighted than corporations today. Because they were right. Air travel and commerce became *much more* profitable with someone minding the big picture.
https://twitter.com/bexone/status/1322562935328108544
The only people who want to move to Mars under a rubric of "Mars is a lawless waste where the strong are free to impose their will on the weak, as in nature" are people who want to horrible things to other people.
"Mars: We Don't Live In A Society, Actually" is just not a winning tourism slogan.
If Elon Musk had some kind of gold-plated reputation for safety standards and such, then maybe he could sell it to people, but I just can't see his Mars venture taking off in a self-sustaining way without safety regulations.
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