stopthatgirl7Jul 29, 2023

OceanGate's cofounder wants to send 1,000 people to a floating colony on Venus by 2050, and says we shouldn't stop pushing the limits of innovation

Guillermo Söhnleinm told Insider he has wanted to make humanity a multi-planet species since he was 11 years old, and that OceanGate was part of that ambition.

https://www.businessinsider.com/oceangate-cofounder-send-humans-live-venus-atmosphere-2050-titan-sohnlein-2023-7

OceanGate cofounder wants to send 1,000 people to live on Venus by 2050

Guillermo Söhnleinm told Insider he has wanted to make humanity a multi-planet species since he was 11 years old, and that OceanGate was part of that ambition.

Insider
Show threadNepenthe

It's ok, guys. This time they're making the whole facility out of SNES controllers.

Props to the journalist for keeping the written version of a straight face while having to include such paragraphs as

If a space station could be designed to withstand the sulfuric acid in the clouds, Söhnlein says, hundreds to thousands of people could someday live in the Venusian atmosphere.

alongside quotes describing the Titan as "a calculated risk" that is "not deserving of a negative connotation" because without previous experience handling brittle carbon fiber vessels whose single window was rated for a third of the intended depth, no inspection could possibly have given any more than the illusion of safety.

Jul 29, 2023 at 5:50amWeb
Show threadAgent641Jul 29, 2023
To be fair, game controllers are some of the most robust objects man has ever created
Show threadOutlierBlueJul 29, 2023
Then why did my friend always make me use the broken one?
Show threadpostmateDumbassJul 29, 2023
Because your friend is an insecure prick.
Show threadEl BartoJul 29, 2023
Dude. That’s quite the hyperbole. I don’t think game controllers are even in the top 100 of the most robust objects man has ever created.
Show threadvenusenvy47Jul 30, 2023
Except when you get a soft drink too close. Then you have buttons that are sticky forever.
Show threadvenusenvy47Jul 29, 2023

This is my favorite part of the article:

Söhnlein said the Titan passengers’ deaths shouldn’t stop humans from continuing to investigate carbon fiber hulled submersibles as a way to reach the bottom of the ocean.

“Forget OceanGate. Forget Titan. Forget Stockton. Humanity could be on the verge of a big breakthrough and not take advantage of it because we, as a species, are gonna get shut down and pushed back into the status quo,” he said.

Those two sentences really highlight how crazy this guy is.

Show threadpostmateDumbassJul 29, 2023
I think he has listened to a few too many motivational speakers.
Show threadDjeikupJul 29, 2023

I think a SNES controller is way too reliable. Should be an Apple mouse that definitely wont be needing to be charged at the worst time possible.

I think they will also need to fire way more engineers who tell them the way they do things are too dangerous.

Show threadFlying SquidJul 30, 2023

An old Kensington Turbomouse trackball for the Mac.

Possibly the worst pointing device I ever used. Worse than the hockey puck mouse they put out with the original iMac. Every time I used it, it would pinch the skin on my hand at the edges of the trackball. I still use a trackball now, a Logitech M570. It’s terrific.