For centuries, novelists have dramatized technology’s impact on humanity. In Frankenstein, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley said, “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” In his 1952 debut novel Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut was more pointed. “Those who live by electronics, die by electronics,” he wrote. The 20th-century novelist Jonathan Franzen even said he is “doubtful anyone with an internet connection … is writing good fiction.”
The rest of humanity, it seems, has taken such apocalyptic warnings to heart. A survey by AAA found 91% of Americans either fear or are uncertain about self-driving cars. Gallup determined three-quarters of people believe artificial intelligence (AI) will eliminate more jobs than it creates.
The problem? These fears are largely unfounded.
Innovation comes with risk, but it also results in more rich, and fulfilling lives. Take the invention of the locomotive, as an example.
When trains were first developed, their potential for speed terrified much of the public at the time. Many expressed concerns that speeds of that level would make passengers unable to breathe, or that they might be shaken unconscious due to the intense vibrations.
However, trains have been one of the most significant and crucial transportation inventions in human history, and the fears about speed from the days of their early inception have long since abated (Japan’s Shinkansen, or “bullet train,” can travel an impressive 200 miles per hour and its speed is its selling-point).
Innovation aside, government policymakers try to manage risk by imposing top-down edicts and restrictions. To wit: local, state, and federal policymakers have begun to consider policies to harness emerging technologies like AI, digital assets, and large language models like ChatGPT.
Our community of scholars are ensuring liberty-advancing research is part of these conversations. As part of that effort, on Aug. 19 the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) hosted a one-hour virtual discussion with Eric Alston, scholar in residence in finance at the University of Colorado Boulder and faculty director at the Leeds School of Business Hernando deSoto Capital Markets Program.
IHS sat down with Alston for an interview this summer. Here is what he had to say about government regulation of technology.
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