For those who are unaware: A couple billionaires, a pilot, and one of the billionaires’ son are currently stuck inside an extremely tiny sub a couple thousand meters under the sea (inside of the sub with the guys above).

They were supposed to dive down to the titanic, but lost connection about halfway down. They’ve been missing for the past 48 hours, and have 2 days until the oxygen in the sub runs out. Do you think they’ll make it?

  • Kantiberl
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    12 years ago

    The cognitive dissonance displayed here is appalling. So many envious and evil fucks showing zero empathy for other humans dying a terrible death just because they have more money. Jesus fuck, people. If your life view makes you that uncaring of other humans then you need to pick a new life view or start getting on submarines yourself. You sit on the internet gleefully relishing in the deaths of others like that makes you more compassionate of poor people somehow?

    Gross. You people are gross.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      Hundreds of migrants drowned in the Mediterranean like not even more than a few days ago and I’ve seen at least 20x more of this kind of sentiment for a handful of rich dudes that wanted to go visit the titanic in a un-certified pringles can created by a company that recently fired it’s director of marine operations because he wouldn’t sign off on the safety of this thing. Their company website says they are not certified because certification impedes innovation 😵‍💫

      Like I saw on Twitter yesterday these dudes are the deadest that anyone has ever been, whether you cry-yell at people on the internet for not being sufficiently crestfallen or not

      • klieg2323
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        12 years ago

        It’s amazing how much manufactured empathy you can buy with money

  • @[email protected]
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    02 years ago

    The only outcome we can be sure of at this point is that the company responsible for this mess is going to have to answer a lot of questions.

      • TurretCorruption
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        12 years ago

        I think there already is one. There was a guy working for that company who was fired for whistleblowing after the ceo ignored his safety concerns, and now that employee is going after the company for wrongful termination.

        That ceo knew it was dangerous but still decided to drag 4 other people to a watery grave

  • TurretCorruption
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    02 years ago

    I’ve read that the sub in question was only rated for 1300 ft, and they were taking it on dives of up to 4000 ft. Unless the sub surfaced as part of a safety protocol, there is an exceedingly high probability that the sub imploded and killed everybody.

  • @[email protected]
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    22 years ago

    The 5 submariners chances of being rescued are very slim at this point but much much higher than the 500 migrants still missing off the coast of Greece who took to the waters not for a joy ride but to escape war and seek a better life.

    • @[email protected]
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      02 years ago

      I understand, not that their lives don’t matter. It’s just that we don’t pay attention to the ones that really do.

  • @[email protected]
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    02 years ago

    unlikely. sub rescues are hardly successful. Their sub could have imploded, fast way to die. Had a power failure wich would takes days to die either from a lack of o2 or possibly the cold. Or it reached the surface and they got to look out at thet ocean until about noon their time tomorrow unable to open the hatch and slowly die from a lack of air.

  • @[email protected]
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    02 years ago

    I would say that all reasonable efforts should be made to rescue or recover anyone and everyone who has gone missing. We can figure out the rest once we exhaust all optons, or have them back on the boat.

    • @[email protected]
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      02 years ago

      Reasonable efforts? Is it reasonable to send out several militaries and spend endless taxpayer money to rescue a bunch of idiots out joyriding?

        • amrawr
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          -12 years ago

          I agree. The value isn’t necessarily the recovery of the individuals (though, cool bonus if possible.) The value is a real S&R mission for the parties involved, as well as data relating to how exactly the sub failed

          Unrelated note, on the off chance that these people are rescued, I imagine reading these comment threads about this event is going to be fuckin WILD

  • @[email protected]
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    02 years ago

    A bunch of billionaires bite the bullet on a dumb, rich tourist expedition? Lol why should anyone care?

  • @[email protected]
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    12 years ago

    If they’re deep down, it’s unlikely. A good outcome would be something failed, but they could get up and are now lost on the surface, but from everything we’ve read about this it doesn’t seem likely either.

  • @[email protected]
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    12 years ago

    No. Chances are high that that submarine just imploded in a millisecond and they just instantly died. Why else would it stop sending pings and completely dissappear otherwise?

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      I cant speak for myself but i think communication in general is a very well understood topic. If that fails you can just assume everyone is dead. I am not sure if the banging is real tho or if it was something else

  • Blue
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    22 years ago

    Just imagine, these idiots spend 250k to sit in a iron tube controlled by a cheap offbrand playstation controller but won’t spend any of their money to improve the world. Only satisfying their own ego and greed. I can’t feel sorry for them, best I can do is hope that they imploded so they didn’t have to suffer too long.

    • Very_Bad_Janet
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      12 years ago

      I’m not really in the business of defending billionaires but I think at least one of them, the guy who brought his son, was involved with charities:

      "He works with his family’s Dawood Foundation, as well as the SETI Institute - a California-based research organisation which searches for extra-terrestrial life.

      “Shahzada is also a supporter of two charities founded by King Charles - the British Asian Trust and the Prince’s Trust International.”

      https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65955554

      He sounds (sounded) like a good person… I do find it interesting that the other billionaires don’t have any mentions of charitable works in articles I’ve read in them.

      • @[email protected]
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        12 years ago

        Every billionaire uses charities.

        They’re a way to exert control over the money that would normally go to taxes, and be up to the government to spend.

        It’s not inherently bad, but charity is not quite the saving grace of billionaires that many make it out to be.

  • @[email protected]
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    12 years ago

    I think there’s a chance they succumbed to hypothermia long before they ran out of oxygen.

  • @[email protected]
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    22 years ago

    No, nor do I think they should be. There will be millions of wasted taxpayer dollars wasted on trying to recover rich people’s dead bodies. They signed a waiver and knew what they were getting into. There’s nothing to be learned from whatever happened, since the company was clearly negligent. Let them rest on the ocean floor beside the other rich assholes.

    • @[email protected]
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      12 years ago

      It’s kinda poetic for them to go down next to the titanic, itself a story of complacency and excess/opulance.

    • @[email protected]
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      12 years ago

      That’s a bit harsh. If there’s anything that works in modern society pretty reliably regardless of status, it’s search and rescue. Sunk subs can also be an environmental hazard.

      • @[email protected]
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        02 years ago

        There is no rescue in this instance, only an expensive recovery. And there are enough environmental hazards in the world at this point, that I don’t think a 5m sub on the sea floor is going to matter much. Most climbers are abandoned to their fate as they made the reckless decision to ascend, just as these people made the reckless decision to descend.

        • @[email protected]
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          02 years ago

          It’s still part of S&R. Lost swimmers, ships, small planes, or just people lost in the woods, there are always attempts for recovery long after any chance of survival is gone.

          Yea climbers may be abandoned very high up on Everest, when there’s no safe way to bring them down. But subs, we do look for subs. Let’s not needlessly be dicks about it.

          • @[email protected]
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            -32 years ago

            Let’s not needlessly be dicks about it.

            You do you. I will be whatever I want about it however.

      • Blokker
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        02 years ago

        I agree woth this post. Wealth has nothing to do with this. And if they survive they can easily pay the bill.

        • @[email protected]
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          -12 years ago

          Pretty hilarious that you think a billionaire would foot the bill if they are (or their families if they’re not) rescued.

  • @[email protected]
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    02 years ago

    There is so much misinformation around all of this (which isn’t helped by two of the largest social media networks being compromised) but:

    If the “someone is knocking every 30 minutes and is near the surface” is true? Yeah, I think they will be rescued. That can be triangulated and they are near enough to the surface that a rescue is “low risk”. Whether they are in good shape after that rescue is anyone’s guess.

    But in the likely event that this is wishful thinking? No. Time is running out (last twelve-ish hours if I can do timezones right?) and the likelihood is that any rescue attempt will be a severe risk to the team doing the rescue. That is not the kind of thing you can do as a last second race against time. We might find the sub but I genuinely do not believe we have the ability to mount a rescue in that amount of time. And the risk of something like “have a military sub lift them up” is not something anyone will sign off on.

    • @[email protected]
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      12 years ago

      I would also say that I don’t think people SHOULD be risking their lives at this point. We’re looking at a case of people who took an informed risk and understood that there was danger associated with the recreational activity they were undertaking. These people either had vast monetary resources and could have consulted the best experts in the world, or had significant prior experience and knowledge. While obviously withholding information interferes with informed consent, and that may or may not have played a role, I don’t think this is morally equivalent to rescuing someone from a burning building. There’s also simple probability - the odds of rescuing them alive and well aren’t good, and to put someone else’s life at risk for the off chance that they succeed would be unethical in my opinion.

      • @[email protected]
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        12 years ago

        Eh. I am very much not going to be losing too much sleep over a few billionaires dying from their own decisions.

        But these were almost definitely not informed decisions. Even ignoring the current revelations that the company was even sketchier than one would have imagined: I am not sure how many “extreme” sports things you have done. The “So if you die it is totally your fault and not ours and even if we were criminally negligent, you will defend us” waiver is incredibly common. And without a proper understanding of the material science involved, it would come across as “as dangerous as sky diving”

        I do very much blame the guy who apparently had dedicated his life to the Titanic. But the other rich folk are in the same category as someone living in a visibly dangerous/condemned building. If a rescue can be done with comparatively low risk: Go for it. If it is likely to kill the rescuers… maybe erase a few recordings.

  • @[email protected]
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    02 years ago

    I’m a bit confused that this is receiving so much attention. What’s so special about this case compared to all the other cases of people being lost at sea every year, besides them being rich?

    • @[email protected]
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      12 years ago

      Honestly, this case is somewhat extraordinary, in a deeply disturbing way.

      First there was this amazing quote from the CEO who is missing on the craft right now

      “You know, at some point, safety is just pure waste,” Rush told CBS’ David Pogue during an episode of his “Unsung Science” podcast. “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.”

      Second, aside from being made from questionable experimental materials, the sub was being controlled by an old, off brand xbox controller. There were numerous design and safety issues that were known at the time of departure. They kinda just did whatever in the F they wanted to. It’s a millionaire game of Fuck Around and Find Out and they’re not used to finding out.

      Third, the damage waiver

      The disclaimer, read out by CBS correspondent David Pogue, read: “This experimental submersible vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma, or death.”

      A nervous-looking Pogue makes a face and says, “Where do I sign?” in the footage recorded when he went on the $250,000 (£195,000) trip to see the Titanic at the end of last year.

      I get that it’s just some rich idiots (and one of their kids) crossing the river styx, but it’s not very often you see such amazing disregard for basic safety.

      • @[email protected]
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        12 years ago

        I don’t get why the Logitech controller is so focused on. I get that it’s probably not the right controller due to it’s age and wireless only nature but COTS parts are often more reliable than in-house ones. The lack of certification as you mentioned is a much larger issue.

  • FiskFisk33
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    12 years ago

    A swedish submarine officer put it bluntly in an interview today, and i paraphrase: “most likely it developed a crack and instantly decompressed like a crushed soda can”