When that risk-adverse culture is carried over to another space, it just fails and never gets noticed. Risk-adverse organizations get outcompeted by more efficient risk-tolerant ones, every time that such competition is possible.
Risk aversion only works for an entity that has a forcible monopoly in its space. The FAA and FDA do. Another is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which exhibits the same behavior: their job is to prevent accidents, and the surest way to do that is to never approve anything at all.
Risk aversion only works for an entity that has a forcible monopoly in its space. The FAA and FDA do. Another is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which exhibits the same behavior: their job is to prevent accidents, and the surest way to do that is to never approve anything at all.