The Titanic

[FantasyIreland]

Titanic tragedy gripped the world (as did the stuck miners and children) because of hope and humans rallying to overcome tremendous odds to save lives in finite timeframes

This voyage was a cluster fuck because safety hadn't been paramount in the design, and I expect regulations will now change as a result.

Whether pursuing adventure or escaping a place of hostility looking for a better life, any lost life is a tragedy and I don't buy into some lives are more valuable than others.

This is a very fair observation

 

[East Level 2]

There is a plexiglass window at the front made from acryllic, which is likely to have shrunk under the intense pressure, causing the implosion. It was brought up during the construction process that it would not be capable of deep sea exploration but was apparently ignored with a "it'll be fine" attitude.

The ludicrous thing is that the depth of the Titanic was known so the pressure on the window could be calculated.
Was this the first dive or had it been down several times leading to the possibility of material fractures from repetitive stresses?

 

[mosssideblue]

The ludicrous thing is that the depth of the Titanic was known so the pressure on the window could be calculated.
Was this the first dive or had it been down several times leading to the possibility of material fractures from repetitive stresses?

They will have calculated the pressure hull pressures at those depths and believe it had been down there before, so more likely cyclic fatigue

 

[Franny 1234]

I haven't read all this thread
Was this the first time the vessel as been used. Or does it have a safe previous history ?

 

[denislawsbackheel]

It was not the maiden voyage.

 

[waspish]

Don’t know if this had been posted but interesting that they said what I posted few days ago about once everything went dead that was it imploding!

 

[domalino]

 

[threespires]

Titanic tragedy gripped the world (as did the stuck miners and children) because of hope and humans rallying to overcome tremendous odds to save lives in finite timeframes

This voyage was a cluster fuck because safety hadn't been paramount in the design, and I expect regulations will now change as a result.

Whether pursuing adventure or escaping a place of hostility looking for a better life, any lost life is a tragedy and I don't buy into some lives are more valuable than others.

I think you're right, the reason for the interest isn't so much that they were rich but it was the whole 'trapped' / clock ticking down narrative. I think you might be taking a generous view that it's predominantly about hope, I'm sure it is for many but some of the coverage seemed to be not much more than a ghoulish spectator sport.

I agree any human life lost is sad but I think there is a valid conversation on why and where resources are deployed in avoiding tragedy. We say any human life lost is a tragedy and invest in the hope of rescue/redemption for a few but then we regularly ignore large scale loss of life that is often preventable. Cognitive dissonance in overdrive.

I think in practice it's easier for people to invest in a self-contained incident like this because there are no knock on implications to have to think about. They'll be some changes to some maritime regulations that won't impact the majority of us and then life goes on. If we truly invest in the rescue of a group of migrants we have to ask about the next group and ultimately we end having to ask ourselves very uncomfortable questions that we either don't like the answers to or we feel so overwhelmed that we absent ourselves from the discussion.

I think it's entirely consistent to feel empathy for the loss of life but deep disquiet that significant resources are devoted to saving a small number of lives whilst others are left to perish because we or the people we choose to govern us don't want to face into the wider implications of those situations.

 

[mosssideblue]

I think you're right, the reason for the interest isn't so much that they were rich but it was the whole 'trapped' / clock ticking down narrative. I think you might be taking a generous view that it's predominantly about hope, I'm sure it is for many but some of the coverage seemed to be not much more than a ghoulish spectator sport.

I agree any human life lost is sad but I think there is a valid conversation on why and where resources are deployed in avoiding tragedy. We say any human life lost is a tragedy and invest in the hope of rescue/redemption for a few but then we regularly ignore large scale loss of life that is often preventable. Cognitive dissonance in overdrive.

I think in practice it's easier for people to invest in a self-contained incident like this because there are no knock on implications to have to think about. They'll be some changes to some maritime regulations that won't impact the majority of us and then life goes on. If we truly invest in the rescue of a group of migrants we have to ask about the next group and ultimately we end having to ask ourselves very uncomfortable questions that we either don't like the answers to or we feel so overwhelmed that we absent ourselves from the discussion.

I think it's entirely consistent to feel empathy for the loss of life but deep disquiet that significant resources are devoted to saving a small number of lives whilst others are left to perish because we or the people we choose to govern us don't want to face into the wider implications of those situations.

Thank you for your detailed response.

As a species, humans are generally compassionate* and will put out all stops to try and save a fellow human, irrespective of how they got into such a predicament. We all, despite what the odds might show, use hope as a emotion to save those in peril not known to have persihed.

I believe lessons learnt from this tragedy will benefit many more industries, making our lives safer overall. Sadly, it often takes tragedy to improve safety.

I take your point about the use of resource and risk to others in trying to save people might seem unjustified at times, but humans are programmed to do that. The RNLI is a classic example, as are mountain rescue teams. We just do it without pause.

* Those on the Kursk would probably have suvived had the Russian Governemnt had more empathy for fellow humans, particularly their own

 

[Malcontent]

Last week, more 500 people fleeing war and famine drowned when their vessel capsized off the coast of Greece. I hardly saw it mentioned. This week, in just two days, I counted 18 headline stories in just one paper about the submarine incident. Both are tragedies, but we value some lives differently than others, clearly.