Here is the problem in this & many other debates, especially online: "that they do nothing but stifle and harm progress" Maybe, on balance, they do more harm

Here is the problem in this & many other debates, especially online: "that they do nothing but stifle and harm progress" Maybe, on balance, they do more harm than good. But they don't only do harm. For one thing, they're embedded into the way a lot of things are done (some of them important) and you can't know in advance how changing it will affect stuff. They also do what they're supposed to do (incentivize innovation) at least some of the time.