When it comes to who should be responsible for inventing new technologies, there should be a balance between governments, corporations, and open source ventures. Corporations and the government have been the biggest producers of new technologies. Through DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the US government has helped create the internet, AI speech recognition and signal processing, hypertext, and stealth aircraft technologies. DARPA, which consists of six technical offices, isn’t subject to the same restrictions or financial limitations as other agencies so their scientists and engineers have been known to develop high quality products. In recent years, more of their ventures have been contracted out to corporations. However, the government’s involvement and contributions cannot be denied, they dominate multiple industries, most notably defense computing and warfare devices.
Historically, the government has controlled and regulated corporations, yet 56% of Americans think major technology companies should be regulated more. The push back from the public and government agencies against corporations is due to consumer privacy laws being violated more frequently in recent years. Additionally, corporations have become more incentivized to bring in record breaking profits, putting business before innovation, resulting in court cases and public outcry. The government, corporations, and open source ventures should reflect on their profound effect on users’ habits and regulations should continue to meditate on emerging problems.
