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This post was created in response to a question posed by @dbruce: "What subset of the economy, product development, or trade is possible without implemented standards to ensure quality, ethics, and safety?" [Question source: https://www.proofofbrain.io/gradnium/@dbruce/week-03-questions ]
What Process Can Exist Reasonably Without Regulation?
I find this question interesting because it calls into question the nature of humanity, or more specifically, the nature of the businessman. Is it inevitable that the businessperson would cut corners in quality, ethics, and/or safety to reach a desired end goal? I think yes. It is human nature to reach a desired state by consuming the least amount of energy, even if it is at the cost of our brethren. Frederic Bastiat would call this plunder, but many would consider the concept more in-line with competition and doing whatever is necessary to come out ahead.
It is important to consider, however, that keeping plunder, unreasonable shortcuts, and questionable ethics in check is not absolutely necessary for a society to function. Societies that do not have large government systems exist--and these societies have functioning economies. They may not be the most healthy or ethical regarding those it impacts directly but it remains effective nonetheless. Regulation is not a condition required of an economy; economy is a condition of regulatory policy.
I believe the modern day economy has yielded some business practices that infringe on ethics and safety even with extensive regulation. Through mass data collection and selling, companies turn their customers into data points with thin excuses of social benefit. If people are the priority in a society, it is necessary that protections are put into place with heavy weight regarding the consumer. Technology and the internet are making our lives increasingly interconnected with one another and this does not exclude the corporations who seek our time or money. I believe that, without some form of regulation on all sectors, we may reach an Orwellian future before we realize it.