The death of a Georgian luge
athlete on the opening day of the 2010 Winter Olympics occurred amid concerns
about the speed of the record-setting track at the Whistler Sliding Center.
“There were some questions asked by other athletes even before this tragic
accident,” said Nikolas Rurua, Georgia’s deputy minister for culture and
sports. He added that there had been several crashes in the same area of the
track. This is like looking back in a financial crisis to point out that
several had preceded that one. It does seem like financial crises may be part
of a larger pattern that is based in human nature. I contend that just such an
innate propensity to recklessness at the expense of the public good (and one's
own!) serves as a rationale for regulation in any country.
Airlander 10, the largest aircraft in the world, crashed on its second test-flight on August 24, 2016.
The full essay is at "Faster, Higher, Bigger!"
