Ep. 53: Ex-FTC Regulator Neil Chilson on Applying Emergent Order In Technology Policy, Outcome-Based vs. Preventative Regulations & the Political Agenda to Capture The Internet

Neil Chilson is a lawyer and computer scientist, he’s the former Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a current senior research fellow for technology and innovation at the Center for Growth and Opportunity, and the author of “Getting Out of Control: Emergent Leadership in a Complex World”.

Neil has decades of first-hand experience in regulatory policy and introduces the distinction between outcome-based, more common law-like legal approaches to regulation vs. the more well-known statutory and preventative approach.

This seemingly technical distinction is very relevant. We start by discussing the "Knowledge Problem" that F. A. Hayek raised in one of the most influential economics papers ever written, "The Use of Knowledge in Society" from 1945.

Hayek's insight is that central planners cannot know the facts relevant to making their decisions, because knowledge is "tacit" and value is subjective to the individual. The system of free price-setting is necessary to create an "emergent order" that does not come about by conscious design but by adjustment and small improvements through individuals making rational decisions based on their local information.

Neil's work is dedicated to applying the insight of emergent order in business, policymaking, and even personal growth - instead of rushing to ask for an authoritative "man in charge", we should instead embrace humility.

Rather than making rules for new technology that is rapidly changing, we should focus on liability for bad outcomes after-the-fact. We apply these insights to debates about the existential risk of artificial intelligence (AI) and the regulatory policy of OpenAI's Sam Altman and Microsoft.

While we're optimistic that software and AI are "born-free" technologies relatively unencumbered by regulatory overreach, Neil warns that policymakers in Washington and in international governmental organizations have an agenda: they see the internet as a bad thing, and AI risk is a welcome opportunity to further this agenda.

Let's not let the internet and AI become stranded technologies. The future is open.

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