James Cameron says the loss of the Titan sub is a “nightmare”
Like most things that happen, the whole saga reminds him of the Titanic
Aux News James Cameron
The U.S. Coast Guard announced this afternoon that it has recovered multiple pieces of debris from the Titan submersible scattered around the wreckage of the Titanic, with the conditions being consistent with a “catastrophic implosion of the vessel.” That means all five people on board are dead, that they most likely died a while before the debris was found, and that they most likely died instantly when the enormous pressure of the ocean destroyed the vehicle.
It’s an unfortunately predictable end to a story that has fascinated everyone this week, but James Cameron—who is a noted submersible aficionado in addition to being the guy who made the Titanic movie—suggested during an appearance on ABC News that a submersible getting destroyed like this shouldn’t have been as predictable as it was. According to Cameron, who does seem somewhat shaken up by all of this, the safety standards for submersibles like this are generally very good, to the extent that all deep-sea submersibles other than the Titan have been held to strict certifications and have a “gold standard” safety record because of them.
That being said, this kind of implosion is “the nightmare” that everyone who works with submersibles like this has had to live with, and Cameron even says a number of the “top players” in the deep submergence engineering community tried to tell OceanGate that its Titan sub was “too experimental” to carry passengers and to go that deep. Naturally, Cameron is struck by the similarities between all of this and the actual Titanic, which similarly ignored the advice of experts and barreled on ahead with its journey, and he says it’s “surreal” to think about how this happened literally right where the Titanic sunk—even with all of our modern safety measures and technological advancements.
Similarly, another submersible aficionado who happens to be famous for other things (former Simpsons writer Mike Reiss) recently commented on the frightening nature of these OceanGate expeditions, saying he went into the ocean with the company multiple times and lost communication with the surface during almost each one.
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“he went into the ocean with the company multiple times and lost communication with the surface during almost each one.” jeez, the first time would’ve been enough to keep me from going again.
I clicked on the AV Club – a site, you may have heard, that is about pop culture in its many art forms – and wondered “how will they come up with some justification to stray out of their lane this time to cover the submarine news; why, surely, that is not of their bailiwick” and… bam.
you clicked on it?
Rookie mistake, I know.
In fairness, this is not an entirely specious connection. He’s widely known now for his involvement in ongoing exploration of the wreckage.
South park James Cameron Song – YouTube
How is a famous filmmaker who is also a well known submarine guy having an opinion about a currently culturally significant submarine disaster not within the purview of a pop culture site?
Are they taking nominations for billionaires to send on a rescue mission?
[Cameron] says it’s “surreal” to think about how this happened literally right where the Titanic sunkI mean, what are the odds that a sub carrying people to the wreck of the Titanic would implode right where the Titanic sunk? Truly astronomical!
love that cameron is legitimately an expert on this and also made a movie where arnold schwarzenegger says ‘chill out, dickwad’
Note that he said nightmare, not tragedy, since everyone in the industry (including some former employees) said this thing was completely inadequate for use that deep. Doesn’t help that it looked like someone built it in their garage. Like this, but with a realistic outcome.
Don’t worry, we’ll have private companies killing billionaires like this in a few years.
Promise?
What do you think Elon building for Mars Expedition? A sustainable environment in near barren, radioactive, unbreathable planet?
The fact that people are actually supporting a project to move humans from one unstustainable environment to another one suggests to me that Musk is taking a giant piss at humanity.But if he could get billioniares to move there – bravo.
At least a Tilt-A-Whirl car is made of steel.
Still a better movie than Titanic.
In Cameron’s movie ‘ The Abyss’ , Michael Biehn is killed in just such an implosion.
It’s “surreal” to think about how this happened literally right where the
Titanic sunk—even with all of our modern safety measures and
technological advancements.
The asshole CEO was a MAGA who rejected every single one of those modern safety measures, and most of the technological advancements (most savvy tech people said ‘do not do this’, their computer is running Windows Vista, and he wouldn’t even pay for a fucking EPIRB). So yeah, here we are.
“We don’t need no stinking regulations!” MAGAts may not, but some of us recognize the need to protect foolish people, even the uber wealthy and the ignorant racist traitors to the Republic – from their lack of critical thinking skills.
And this is James Cameron, the man who said “yeah, fly the helicopter under a 15-foot highway bridge and into the back of a moving van: it’ll make a great shot!” and who was previously known for saying “okay Ed, we’re gonna fill this suit up with pink water, you just hold your breath until I say ‘cut’ oh except you’re not gonna hear me say that because of the water” so the man does know a thing or two about absurdly risky behavior.
I think the words “ insanely stupid” would be more appropriate.
yeahno, it’s notremember when that kook wanted to prove the earth was flat, so he designed a rocket and died in it? this is like that. Sucks he took some other people along, but given they were all uber wealthy, including a pakistani billionaire who casually ignores his country’s horrible problems following natural disasters to take a half-million dollar joyride to titanic with his son who didn’t even want to be there.We are not out some incredible philanthropists or people who have moved the needle forward for all of humanity.
I’d rather climb into the Rube Goldberg sub than be forced to watch any of those fucking Avatar sequels. The last and best part of James Cameron got used up by The Abyss.