I see it like this: If you are designing a jetliner filled with human passengers (and the associated liability), first principles might lead you to a culture w

I see it like this: If you are designing a jetliner filled with human passengers (and the associated liability), first principles might lead you to a culture which puts a high priority on safety. The high cost of safety by design is deemed “worth it”. At least until equity markets and bean counters get their way. If you are building a military fighter jet, the lesson of war has taught us that skilled pilots are harder to replace than aircraft. Even if the pilots are “government property” from a liability point of view. So again, a costly and meticulous safety culture has evolved. If you are building an unmanned vehicle, and the development cost of the launch vehicle and payload is more than the incremental unit costs, and you never hand the vehicle over to the customer, then first principles might lead you to consider throwing out the safety culture that was created for the manned vehicle cases. See spacex. If you get confused between these different situations, then first principles might lead you to OceanGate.