A handful of billionaires set out to the depths for adventure, breaking records, and private-club boastings. They vanished. The world held its collective breath in worry; powers opened their pockets and deployed their hardware in search. Meanwhile… thousands die at sea on their way from persecution and poverty to a better life. Much less worry is given to these humans, of course, except, perhaps, the hatching of cruel plans by cruel people for if and when they do make it to their shores. These priorities are fucked up.
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It’s pretty clear that the hardware these more-money-than-sense folks went down in was somewhere between inadequate and piece-of-shit. My proof is that it imploded.
What emerges is that Stockton Rush thought that more safety is a waste of resources:
"You know, at some point, safety just is pure waste," said Rush. "I mean, if you just want to be safe, don't get out of bed. Don't get in your car. Don't do anything. At some point, you're going to take some risk, and it really is a risk/reward question. I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules."
He also ignored warning of safety issues and regulations.
This engineer built an unsafe product for himself and very few others to risk their lives in. Other billionaires like him, with their own man-child views of how the world should work, build products for very many others to have a go with.
What’s more is that these people are adored, listened to, and their opinions considered for public policy.
This should worry us all.