[esotericn]

That's not the fundamental issue unfortunately.

I do trust random taxi drivers and I do trust arbitrary individuals to cook for me (trust is a bad word to use here; rather, I think the positives outweigh the negatives, I'd rather pay less and take some small risks).

But regulation in these areas doesn't apply because I might get into trouble. With food it's about preventing illness outbreak, with taxis it's about preventing massive congestion. At least, that's the goal (in practice the regulation gets corrupted).

[crazygringo]

> I do trust random taxi drivers and I do trust arbitrary individuals to cook for me

Do you though?

All the taxis you take are with licensed drivers. The government has already set up certification standards.

Likewise, how often do you eat a meal by an arbitrary individual? Generally it's either someone you know and trust, or else a professional cook under food safety certification working in an inspected kitchen.

Are you saying you'd get into a taxi driven by someone without a driver's license because you'd rather pay less and take risks? Or eat a hamburger made from ground beef sitting in a refrigerator for 4 weeks because the cook "thinks it's fine", and again you'd rather pay less and take risks?

[esotericn]

You're assuming a lot about my life here.

Without going in to huge detail I'll just say that most of this is false. A few years back I went hitch-hiking around Europe, no licensing was involved, as far as I'm concerned my drivers _were_ randomly selected (if anything, _they_ chose _me_).

Your last sentence is essentially an enormous strawman.

That all said, this isn't about me. The point of regulation is to prevent tragedy of the commons style situations. One instance of someone buying a meal from a neighbour or paying a friend for a lift doesn't matter, the commercialisation causes problems.