The implosion of the Titan submersible last month has given me great pause. Not only was it a tragic, unnecessary loss of life, but it is also a fitting allegory to what we have experienced during the past three years of COVID. Especially when it comes to mRNA therapies.
Stockton Rush.
There’s a name. A direct descendant of two signers of the Declaration of Independence. A being brimming with entitlement, arrogance and the belief that everything he does is nothing short of perfection itself – regardless of what others may say or warn. The overly ambitious CEO of OceanGate (There’s another name. One needs only think of other Gates – WaterGate, ContraGate, TravelGate… Bill Gates) was incapable of taking criticism. He truly believed that what he was doing, creating deep sea pressure chambers out of clearly unsuitable materials, was a trailblazing, SAFE and INNOVATIVE way forward for deep sea exploration. And tourism.
So, let’s ask ourselves a question. Do you begin to see the parallels here?
SAFE and INNOVATE. SAFE and EFFECTIVE.
Innovation.
This is the hallmark of what Stockton Rush based his carbon fiber/titanium pressure chamber on. It was done in the name of innovation. It was the way forward. A way to bring humanity to the depths of the Titanic in a quick, cheap and safe way. Yet, everyone who knew anything about deep sea pressure chambers said – and told him – he was wrong and dangerously so.
Anyone who dared to challenge Rush on the safety of his innovation was immediately purged and silenced. "We have heard the baseless cries of 'you are going to kill someone' way too often. I take this as a serious personal insult," is something Rush wrote in response to the many calls for him to stop. Yet, he also claimed that his technology “flies in the face of submersible orthodoxy, but that is the nature of innovation.”
When David Lochridge, a former employee of OceanGate officially brought up concerns of safety with the submersible, not only was he not listened to – at all – he was given ten minutes to clear out his desk and vacate the premises. Does this sound familiar? How many mRNA critics met the exact same fate? All of them!
Echoes abound.
"Safer than crossing the street.” – Stockton Rush
“Covid vaccines not linked to deaths, major US study finds” – BBC
For me, the most ominous element to the Titan catastrophe was the buildup. The incremental destruction of the integrity of the hull with each dive. It wasn’t a question of if, it was a certainty of when. After how many dives? After how many shots.
Wasn’t innovation and a rush to get protection out to everyman the pulpit from which the mRNA therapies were thrust upon humanity? Weren’t we repeatedly told we COULDN’T get COVID if we had them? We COULDN’T spread it? And weren’t so many people who understood the science saying it was completely incorrect? And dangerously so?
And they too, were shown the door with ten minutes to get out…
I’m not suggesting that everyone who takes an mRNA therapeutic is doomed to die. Not at all. What I am saying is that we have people in positions of authority who we should be able to trust, telling us that diving in an experimental submersible is as safe as crossing the street. And that taking an experimental vaccine is not linked to deaths. And these people will not only disallow criticism, but they will also banish you for it. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Wow what an excellent analogy. Well done!
Carbon fiber and titanium expand and contract at different rates. Gluing carbon fiber to titanium is also a recipe for failure. 1st. Carbon fiber bicycles are light and strong but can fail catastrophically without warning. When building fiberglass and carbon fiber boat hulls you see the same issues. But, you generally see cracking in the gel coat where there has been too much flexing. I worry about the current trend to build light strong performance catamarans and trimarans with carbon fiber The sea is relentless. I fear we will see families and crews lost at sea over time as these expensive boats age.
Your analogy to the Covid vaccine (not a vaccine) mRNA technology hold together well. Rush to market with too little testing and paying no head to signals such as all the test animals dying. then ignoring signals in human trials. shutting down critics. But, in the case of the jabs I wonder if they work exactly as intended. That is a much bigger issue.