Finding Freedom in the Permission Society

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Jun 7, 2021

We live in a "permission society," where it sometimes feels like anything that is not prohibited is mandatory. What is the entrepreneur to do in such a climate? Perhaps, rather than using bad governance as an excuse not to innovate, we should see it as an opportunity to satisfy the needs being unmet by lumbering bureaucracies.

Adam Thierer, a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, has written something of a manual for Evasive Entrepreneurs & the Future of Governance, following his last book, Permissionless Innovation , which offered a kind of cognitive therapy for the obsessive-compulsive personalities that head various regulatory agencies.

Thierer specializes in innovation, entrepreneurialism, Internet, and free-speech issues, with a particular focus on the public policy concerns surrounding emerging technologies.

From excessive playground rules to ride-sharing red tape, signs of the permission society are everywhere. Thierer says that legitimate concerns about new technology need not stymie innovation in areas that can make all of our lives better.

Is it sometimes better to ask forgiveness than permission?

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