Opinion

On June 26, 2023 by Jonathan Zdziarski

Reading of the OceanGate tragedy this week has been heartbreaking, and my prayers are for the families of those lost in this tragic accident. Yet while the investigation gets underway, most in that community seem to already have concluded that this accident was 100% preventable. Stockton Rush’s alleged disregard for safety and process in the name of innovation seems well known throughout their world, and this failure came as no surprise. Yet while we all want to hate on the seemingly reckless CEO that may have caused this accident, we should perhaps give pause to consider that in America, we seem entirely comfortable with sociopaths (or those with such tendencies, at least) driving progress at the expense of human life, and even continue to financially support them.

Stockton Rush reminds me a lot of another, not entirely different CEO who is well known for his lack of restraint and cavalier approach to safety. According to The Washington Post which analyzed NHTSA’s data, Tesla’s autopilot was found to have been involved in 736 crashes and 17 fatalities since 2019, and has been on the rise since expanding their full self-driving technology. Over 800,000 Teslas have supposedly been under investigation, and a recent internal leak from last month alleges thousands of safety complaints. In spite of a fatality count more than triple that of the OceanGate Titan, our own government seems perfectly content with these deaths and has taken little corrective action. Neither have investors, or even customers. Many supporters of Tesla quickly jump to point out the good that such technology will do for safety once it works, but that isn’t in question. What’s at issue is the lack of process and the seemingly unnecessary urgency, much like OceanGate, to rush forward without the proper safety controls in place. While Teslas might still make fewer mistakes than humans, WaPo’s report seems to indicate those mistakes are far more biased toward school children, first responders, and pedestrians.

Of course, Tesla is just one small and recent example of what one might view as recklessness meeting ambition. Corporations operating in this pattern have worked hard to try and convince us there needs to be a balance of safety and process compromises in the name of progress. Look back over the past two hundred years, and we find this pattern repeated throughout, ironically even including the doomed RMS Titanic. We could call them trailblazers, and adopt the same mindset that men like Rush appear to have, or we could take a step back and consider that by tolerating it, we permit such “captains of industry” the hubris of deciding the value of human life. They answer that question for not only each victim, but also for their family. Sure, people signed waivers for the Titan, but would they still have if they were aware of the facts now unfolding? Children getting off school busses certainly didn’t sign a waiver prior to being run down by a Tesla.

So does there really need to be a balance? Is loss of human life really necessary to innovation? Capitalism has helped make this decision for us. Government and investors tend to turn a blind eye to reckless behavior instead of punish it on the spot. While they tolerate, and even help fund this risk, consider they’ve already made this decision for you and your family too – you’ve just been lucky so far. The well known trolley dilemma is an exercise in ethics often tied to discussions about artificial intelligence, yet seems to be already playing itself out in much more human decisions made by executives. Just like generative AI, we have literally no idea where we’re going with any new and emerging technology. Regulation is often only reactive, rather than proactive. This must change, as newer science continues to go viral even faster with today’s software delivery platforms, and rapid hardware prototyping and manufacturing processes.

While America seems captivated by this submarine accident, let’s not forget that it isn’t just the privileged or the risk takers who die as a result of corporate recklessness and ambition. Whether it is a poorly designed submersible, an underdeveloped autonomous driving technology or any new emerging science, there are businessmen in this country who are – daily – taking invisible gambles with our lives in many different forms. Much like the passengers of the Titan, we probably aren’t fully disclosed on the risk we’re being exposed to until it’s too late. The OcenaGate Titan was only a small-scale example of what is already happening broadly in corporate America today. This would be a good time to review our country’s overall attitude and policy about emerging technology and risk to human life.