A discussion with a friend ensued about regulations. He complained that regulations were nothing but a bureaucratic way to suck profit from his business, that they made no sense, that they made doing business impossible. He then proudly announced that he was of a capitalistic mindset. He saw no other possibility.

His claims rolled around in my head as I purposely tried to gather the gist of his statements. I thought of a world without regulations. I considered the arguments that I had heard about regulations, especially about governmental regulations, and how they impeded the march towards free-market capitalism. I thought of history.

I thought of how regulations played a part in ending the civil war in America, child-labor, environmental catastrophes that were argued necessary by profiteers since the industrial age. I also thought of how the lack of regulations had led to the stock market crash in the 1920’s, the dustbowl conditions of the 1930’s, the unquestioned, unconscionable nuclear testing (well over 300 tests), and the uses of nuclear weapons of the 1940’s and 1950’s.

I thought of the ongoing environmental horrors of corporations and societies in the name of non-impeded profit. I thought of the ongoing torture of animals everywhere. Of Wallstreet, of banks and other oligarchical institutions, suburban sprawl, over population, and now un-regulated research in AI.

I thought of all of this and one question came to mind.

“What kind of a world do you want your children, others, and yourself to live in?”