Permissionless innovation – the practice of purposefully ignoring government regulation in order to produce a better product – is all the rage in the wake of the emergence of services like Uber.
This is highly understandable, and laudable. After all, the number of regulations designed to stifle innovation and allow rent-seeking by special interests dwarfs the number of regulations actually motivated by reason or common sense. Considered in this context, innovators have every reason to give Washington the finger when they decide to create a good product. As Ayn Rand once wrote, “The question isn’t who’s going to let me. The question is who’s going to stop me.” So far, the answer to both questions has been “no one.”
However, while permissionless innovation definitely requires a disregard of Washington red tape, that doesn’t mean that all such disregard is permissionless innovation. Some of it is just good, old-fashioned bad behavior. This is particularly true when it’s undertaken by companies who know their political muscle will enable them to come out better off in the event of a crisis caused by such behavior. In other words, permissionless “innovation” is really permissionless predation.
Read more here:
http://www.realcleartechnology.com/...ionless_innovation_doesnt_look_like_1262.html
This is highly understandable, and laudable. After all, the number of regulations designed to stifle innovation and allow rent-seeking by special interests dwarfs the number of regulations actually motivated by reason or common sense. Considered in this context, innovators have every reason to give Washington the finger when they decide to create a good product. As Ayn Rand once wrote, “The question isn’t who’s going to let me. The question is who’s going to stop me.” So far, the answer to both questions has been “no one.”
However, while permissionless innovation definitely requires a disregard of Washington red tape, that doesn’t mean that all such disregard is permissionless innovation. Some of it is just good, old-fashioned bad behavior. This is particularly true when it’s undertaken by companies who know their political muscle will enable them to come out better off in the event of a crisis caused by such behavior. In other words, permissionless “innovation” is really permissionless predation.
Read more here:
http://www.realcleartechnology.com/...ionless_innovation_doesnt_look_like_1262.html
