Technical Superiority Without Institutional Readiness: The War of the Currents as a Historical Precedent for AI Governance

{"This":[0],"working":[1,187],"paper":[2,154,195],"argues":[3],"that":[4,23,121,144,167],"technical":[5,27,138],"superiority":[6],"is":[7,49,60,196],"neither":[8],"a":[9,12,19,45,50,63,141,206,213],"necessary":[10],"nor":[11],"sufficient":[13],"condition":[14],"for":[15,130],"the":[16,24,33,67,70,88,108,131,164,168,184],"diffusion":[17],"of":[18,54,69,91,163],"new":[20],"technology,":[21],"and":[22,29,36,75,81,87,117,148,179,191,198],"gap":[25,166],"between":[26,72],"capability":[28],"institutional":[30,109],"readiness":[31],"—":[32,48,111,120],"organizational,":[34],"financial,":[35],"legal":[37,118],"infrastructure":[38,110],"required":[39],"to":[40,211,216],"convert":[41],"an":[42,160],"invention":[43,123],"into":[44,140],"durable":[46],"system":[47,80],"more":[51],"reliable":[52],"predictor":[53],"which":[55],"technologies":[56],"succeed.":[57],"The":[58,153,194],"argument":[59],"developed":[61],"through":[62],"single":[64],"historical":[65,157,209],"case:":[66],"\\"War":[68],"Currents\\"":[71],"Nikola":[73],"Tesla's":[74,92,122],"George":[76],"Westinghouse's":[77],"alternating-current":[78],"(AC)":[79],"Thomas":[82],"Edison's":[83,101],"direct-current":[84],"(DC)":[85],"system,":[86],"later":[89],"collapse":[90],"Wardenclyffe":[93,128],"wireless-transmission":[94],"project.":[95],"Alternating":[96],"current":[97],"prevailed":[98],"commercially":[99],"despite":[100],"better-funded":[102],"opposition":[103],"campaign,":[104],"because":[105],"Westinghouse":[106],"supplied":[107],"patent":[112],"consolidation,":[113],"standardization,":[114],"capital":[115],"access,":[116],"defense":[119],"alone":[124],"could":[125,135,151],"not":[126,136,215],"provide.":[127],"failed":[129],"mirror-image":[132],"reason:":[133],"Tesla":[134],"translate":[137],"vision":[139],"financing":[142],"structure":[143],"J.":[145],"P.":[146],"Morgan":[147],"other":[149],"investors":[150],"underwrite.":[152],"reframes":[155],"this":[156],"episode":[158],"as":[159],"early":[161],"instance":[162],"institutional-readiness":[165],"author's":[169,185],"ongoing":[170],"research":[171],"program":[172],"documents":[173],"empirically":[174],"in":[175],"contemporary":[176],"artificial-intelligence":[177],"governance,":[178],"situates":[180],"it":[181,203,218],"explicitly":[182],"alongside":[183],"related":[186],"papers":[188],"on":[189,205],"adaptation":[190],"human-capital":[192],"readiness.":[193],"conceptual":[197],"illustrative":[199],"rather":[200],"than":[201],"causal:":[202],"draws":[204],"single,":[207],"well-documented":[208],"case":[210],"motivate":[212],"framework,":[214],"test":[217],"statistically.":[219]}