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I am genuinely interested, do you think that the Wright Brothers should not have developed the technology that they did because of the risk that someone would get killed? I am having trouble imagining any way (at least at the time, but probably today as well) of inventing manned flight without anybody dying in the process.

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Inventing manned flight without anybody dying would have been completely possible. Use more caution, pay more attention to safety. But that's not the right hypothetical. This is inventing manned flight without endangering or killing innocent bystanders.

I don’t think anything is possible risk free. So it comes down to your/societies risk tolerance how save, expensive and slow or risky, cheap and fast progress should be. Ideally the risk is taken by conscious and free individuals. But yes, bystanders will be hit as well.

For manned flight it was totally worth the risk.

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