this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023
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Enough Musk Spam

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For those that have had enough of the Elon Musk worship online.

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[–] newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 88 points 1 year ago (8 children)

'Inventors' killed by their inventions happens way more than people probably realize. First one that comes to mind is the Segway guy. Then there's the more recent dude who built that shitty submarine for dives to the Titanic. Anyone else care to share any incidents?

[–] ivanafterall@kbin.social 57 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Not a death, but the guy who started Match.com reportedly lost his girlfriend to a guy she met on Match.com.

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 13 points 1 year ago

That might be worse than death to be frank.

[–] LordOfTheChia@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Mr_Blott@feddit.uk 38 points 1 year ago

My favourite is the guy who invented leaded petrol and poisoned us all, then invented CFCs and poisoned the atmosphere, then....

Thomas Midgley Jr. (1889–1944) was an American engineer and chemist who contracted polio at age 51, leaving him severely disabled. He devised an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys to help others lift him from bed. He became entangled in the ropes and died of strangulation at the age of 55.

Fuckin lol 😂

[–] drcobaltjedi@programming.dev 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well, the segway guy, Dean Kamen, is alive. The owner of the company or something like that died though.

So having removed one, I'll add in the guy that made leaded gas.

[–] squiblet@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago

A British businessman purchased Segway in 2009, and in 2010 accidentally reversed off a cliff while walking his dog by the ocean, and died.

[–] cone_zombie@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nobody mentioned Marie Curie yet?

[–] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 22 points 1 year ago

Marie curie wasn't really an inventor. She was a scientist discovering new physics.. which turned out to be dangerous. She died likely due to lacking safety precautions people didn't know were needed since radioactivity is harmful mainly in the long-term. Even then she lived a reasonably long time.

[–] iamanurd@midwest.social 27 points 1 year ago

You’re not wrong, but just to be clear: Musk did not invent the Tesla.

[–] Snowpix@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There's the French dude who tried building his own parachute, climbed to the lower level of the Eiffel Tower, and tried making a spectacle of proving how good his parachute was by jumping from it. He promptly died on impact when it didn't, in fact, prove very good at all.

[–] jandar_fett@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You forgot to mention that his "parachute" looked to be a bunch of cloaks and furs tied around his neck like a cape. That's important info lol

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 6 points 1 year ago

Til I invented the parachute when I was 5.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

So if it had worked he would have hung himself?

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Musk didn't invent shit. He bought his way in to being the CEO using his daddy's money. These companies are successful despite musk, not because of him

[–] dx1@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think basically it's a situation where he did manage to create the "scientific prodigy" reputation around himself, this created public buzz around whatever he was doing, and that did translate into different forms of funding. So some of the success is due to him, but basically on account of fraud. Same basic principle as Trump.

[–] Dettweiler42@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

Well, the main salesman for Skydrol (a phosphate based, non-flammable hydraulic fluid for aviation), did not invent the product; but was known to drink some of it during his pitch to "prove" that the fluid was safe. He died of stomach cancer.

[–] Num10ck@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The Chief Designer of the 'Titanic' Saved Everyone He Could as His Ship Went Down. Thomas Andrews died in 1912, when the ship he had designed sank, after encouraging the Titanic's passengers to get off the ship if they could.