[scott_karana]

Do you know how the highway construction is vetted, how your cell phone batteries are vetted, how the gasoline additives are vetted, how the driver's licensing scheme in California is vetted, how vehicle import regulations are vetted, how traffic signals are vetted, etc?

Any of these could cause non-negligible personal risk, none of it your fault. For extra fun, imagine changing jurisdictions frequently and doing all that research over again.

Uber's economic model is maybe not my business, but my safety using them sure as hell is.

I don't want to second-guess whether drinking water is safe, food, etc. Nor do I want to have to Google whether it's safe merely to hail a cab-like service.

It's absurd to expect everyone to take 100% responsibility for all external factors beyond their control. At least some common, important factors need to be regulated simply to spare redundant burden on the populace.

[icebraining]

But as Uber itself shows, the fact that a licensing system exists doesn't mean that all services are compliant. So you already can't assume everything is safe - you're just self-deceiving yourself into a sense of false security.

[scott_karana]

Yeah, obviously nobody can ever fully drop their defenses, nor totally disclaim personal liability.

In all the examples above, there's still room/need to stop aberrant behavior, eg, "why is this water so cloudy?! maybe I shouldn't drink it!"

[the_ancient]

your absolute faith in government to protect you is astounding

[scott_karana]

I don't have the resources to do everything myself. Nor do you.

A little altruism is required for societies to function. (Nor did I say complete altruism is required)

[pm24601]

And your absolute faith in your ability to evaluate all risks is stupifying.