Yesterday, all hope for the five-man crew in a newly designed submersible called Titan came to a heartwrenching end. The deep-sea submarine had imploded, instantaneously killing all inside it.
Soon, old videos about the Titan surfaced on the Internet. There was one where the interviewer cast doubt about the safety of Titan, only to be met with assurance by the owner and designer Stockton Rush. Unlike other deep-sea submersibles, Rush had simplified the materials used to build his sub which, in hindsight, led to the disaster. It should be pointed out that before diving towards the wreck of the Titanic, Titan was tested several times.
I want to talk about why people like Rush would do such things. Why do we look at the moon and dream of building a rocket to visit it? Why do we look at Everest and dream of climbing it? Why do we look at a bird and dream of flying like it? It is our human nature to do so. I cannot think of an evolutionary reason for it but it is just in us to dream of the impossible.
Was Rush a madman to experiment using new and untested materials for his sub? No. It is in our nature to try new things, to be brave and traverse the unknown.
There is something in humans that makes us want to strap a piece of cloth to our backs and jump off the Eifel Tower, inject blood into a human being to replace blood loss, or get into a balloon filled with hot air. I am sure you can guess that these were the parachute, blood transfusion, and the hot air balloon. What you probably did not guess was that all three inventors died while using their inventions!
Still, no one abandoned those experiments. The deadmen simply opened the way to a better future. The parachute and blood transfusion are used daily to save lives. Someone had to be brave enough to test such new ideas on himself to prove it.
Performing daring feats is what makes us humans. Animals do not display such tendencies. It takes balls of steel to strap a rocket to a car or to jump from the edge of space down to earth. Teenagers display bravado that would make them cringe when they are in their thirties. They often run stop signs with their bicycles, play chicken with oncoming vehicles and flick butterfly knives for fun.
In Malaysia, young men zoom down highways lying on the seat of their 150cc motorcycles, without any safety gear except a flimsy helmet. In Thailand, men race wooden boats with V8 engines strapped to the back, again without any safety equipment, not even a helmet! It is in man to be daring and try dangerous things.
While we mourn the loss of five lives, I would also like to celebrate the indomitable human spirit that lived in them.
Pepper's World. Notes to myself. 