The Guardian describes capitalism very well
Billions spent and hypothetical returns
That works. We don’t know what it is possible to do, we don’t know what it is that people want done. No, we can’t just ask people because expressed and revealed preferences are different. As technology changes and that universe of what it is possible to do - and of what folk would like done - changes we need some system to explore that possibility space. Try everything, do more of what works, less of what doesn’t.
And there we are. Capitalist free marketry in a nutshell. We spend all the money now and find out whether those hypothetical - hoped for perhaps - returns arrive.
Now all we need to do is convince The Guardian that this is how everything works, not just artificial intelligence. Spend now, find out later, try everything. And yes, we do need that private allocation of money to it all. For any planner is going to not spend upon things that do not occur to that planner. Which means the possibility space is not explored, d’ye see?
Tim Worstall