There isn't a facet of life the government doesn't think it should have a say in. From our light bulbs to our food to our cars to our housing, there's a list of regulations and standards a mile long.
It's overkill and ridiculous.
Few people know about government overregulation better than Elon Musk, and here he is sharing one story of how messed up government really is:
Elon Musk tonight on overregulation:
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) October 20, 2024
"I got a bunch of nutty stories. SpaceX had to do this study to see if Starship would hit a shark. And I'm like... it's a big ocean. There are a lot of sharks! It’s not impossible, but it’s very unlikely. So we said, 'Fine, we’ll do the… pic.twitter.com/Ytbqg374vI
The entire post reads:
I got a bunch of nutty stories. SpaceX had to do this study to see if Starship would hit a shark. And I'm like... it's a big ocean. There are a lot of sharks! It’s not impossible, but it’s very unlikely. So we said, 'Fine, we’ll do the analysis. Can you give us the shark data?' They were like, 'No, we can’t give you the shark data.'
Well, then, okay, we’re in a bit of a quandary. How do we solve this shark probability issue? They said, 'Well, we could give it to our western division, but we don’t trust them.' I’m like, 'Am I in a comedy sketch here?!'
Eventually, we got the data and could run the analysis to say, 'Yeah, the sharks are going to be fine.' But they wouldn’t let us proceed with the launch until we did this crazy shark analysis.
Then we thought, 'Okay, now we’re done.' But then they said, 'What about whales?'
When you look at a picture of the Pacific, what percent of the surface area do you see as whale? If Starship did hit a whale, honestly, it’s like the whale had it coming, cause the odds are... so low. It’s like Final Destination: Whale Edition.
And then they said, 'What if the rocket goes underwater, then explodes, and the whales have hearing damage?' This is real!
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Good Lord.
I guess when we detonated nukes in the ocean none of that mattered
— Τhε ІgηΦяαηϮ ΩϻηisciεηϮ (@cryptocafetero) October 20, 2024
Guess not.
Remember when they made Elon catch a Seal to prove sonic booms weren't causing mating problems... pic.twitter.com/JM5y4rrr9g
— Jacob Vega (@JacobtheVega) October 20, 2024
OMG.
Imagine telling the public in 1969, after the moon landing, that the hardest part about returning to the moon in the 2020s would be dealing with government bureaucracy 🥴
— Sahil Punamia (@SahilPunamia) October 20, 2024
They'd have laughed at you.
Cool so anyways, here’s a picture of the US Government detonating a nuclear bomb in the ocean pic.twitter.com/7k03DF7Bi6
— Nick Perkins (@NickyPerkss) October 20, 2024
'bUt WhaLeS mIgHt hAvE HeAriNg LosS!' - our government
Regulations shouldn’t stand in the way of innovation. Shoutout to @elonmusk for cutting through the red tape and pushing the mission forward. SpaceX’s Mars journey is a leap for all—let’s make it happen, not get caught up in ‘what ifs.’
— Terminus (@First_Terminus) October 20, 2024
Government stifles innovation.
Every single time.
Government is so stupid. https://t.co/z8wdQ0uBLo
— Mary 🎃 Spooky Ginger 👻 (@mchastain81) October 20, 2024
So profoundly stupid.
Elon’s standup is pretty funny. But that it is a true story is sad. https://t.co/lSUY4556Uh
— Nathaniel Eliason (@n3liason) October 20, 2024
Very sad.
This story exemplifies how ludicrous regulation has gotten in my lifetime. https://t.co/PwZwilsNFu
— Danielle Zanzalari (@DZanzalari) October 20, 2024
It's insane and ludicrous.
but wind generators don't have to prove they won't kill whales (and they seem to) https://t.co/oJcn5ThYNo
— Gitabushi (@Gitabushi) October 20, 2024
That's (D)ifferent.
Entrepreneur regulatory hell. Raleigh once forced me to plant 4 trees over the main Miami-to-DC fiberoptic trunk. AT&T was screaming at Raleigh not to plant there. I offered to plant 30 trees instead on the 2-acre property. Nope. Cost me $30,000 for 4 enclosure boxes. https://t.co/ABLvqUprHl
— Follower 41 (@dartsandmonkeys) October 20, 2024
Egads.
It's not that federal staff are incompetent, in fact many are quite bright. But left unchecked, ignorance of how the real world works and a need to justify their existence will lead to this kind of thing. And if this is what Elon gets, imagine small businesses https://t.co/E7IVXYSbav
— Michael Brickman (@BrickM) October 20, 2024
This writer once worked for local government and was tasked with making a flowchart for small businesses looking for permits. The process was, in a word, onerous.
And it needs to change.
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