Technology safe spaces

Freeing young technologies from regulatory bullying

Young technologies get bullied.

They suffer in a harsh world designed for grown-ups. They are subject to reactionary rules created by the tech panic of regulators, academics, and other people who hate the future. Then we are surprised when technologies get built elsewhere.

Australia needs technology safe spaces where people can experiment with young technologies. Where rockets can take off without years of approvals. Where massive investments in energy for data centres can happen without consultation. Where people can build again.

Two reform paths

I’ve spent over ten years begging for regulatory reform.

For specific reforms that let new technologies and business models grow — drones, sharing economy, crypto.

For regulatory reform tools — one-in-one-out regulatory rules, sandboxes, red tape repeal days.

For new measures of the regulatory burden so we at least know what we’re dealing with.

Governments should do all of these things. But the reality is that while we wait for broad regulatory reform, frontier technologies are rushing past us.

We face a choice: make the entire economy more permissionless, or create safe spaces where innovation can happen.

If we can’t do deep reform quickly, regulators should create small islands of permissionless innovation.

Technology safe spaces

New technologies need to be experimented with before they can mature. Otherwise they never reach their potential, or flee to better environments.

These aren’t just about ‘fit-for-purpose’ regulation or marginal tax tweaks. They’re radical by design — built for experimentation, not permission. The burden of proof should shift from innovators having to prove safety or environmental maintenance, to critics having to demonstrate actual harm.

What kind of technology safe spaces?

Here are a few to start.

Compute safe spaces for AI data centers, where new sources of energy and cooling can be scaled up. For instance, in areas where large-scale energy infrastructure exists but might be shut down soon.

Space safe spaces for rockets, with streamlined airspace restrictions and safety protocols appropriate to actual risk. Where environmental protections are lighter (and whales will just have to watch the launch).

Energy safe spaces where next-generation energy technologies (nuclear, advanced geothermal, and hydrogen) can be tested without waiting a decade for permits.

This is ideological

There’s been a demand for regulatory exit valves for decades. Many people will recognise similarities to special economic zones, regulatory sandboxes, charter cites, enterprise zones, and more.

But technology safe spaces aren’t about incremental improvements to existing frameworks. They are not ideologically neutral. They embody a view that bureaucracies kill technologies, particularly young ones. And for technologies to grow up, distributed tinkering outperforms planning.

If we want to build the future — if we want to accelerate — we must protect our young technologies from regulatory bullying. We need technology safe spaces.