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I seem to remember that safety was a big concern when these things debuted a few years back. Though I can't imagine what kind of restraint apparatus might save you if you fell into a river.
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Wow. As sad as this is, I can't help thinking that this sounds like the beginning of a Pushing Daisies episode.
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Would you expect it to impact sales if the CEO of Ford died in an auto accident, or if an executive of Nike died while walking?
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Oddly enough, someone started using one on my universities campus this semester. Probably some punk freshman who thinks he looks cool.
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Because there is no true practical reason, its the expensive alternitive to a bycycle or just plain walking.
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Would you expect it to impact sales if the CEO of Ford died in an auto accident, or if an executive of Nike died while walking?
Have you ever heard of a runner crashing into a lake and drowning because they lost control of their shoes or their shoes malfunctioned?
Shoes have been around for millennia. We all understand the basic technology and operation of even the highest tech shoes. We all understand that if a runner falls off a bridge or veers into oncoming traffic, its extraordinarily improbable that his shoes were to blame.
Cars haven't been around nearly as long as shoes and unlike shoes, the very nature of the technology is such that sometimes an accident is the cause of vehicle malfunction. But because nearly all of us are experienced drivers, we know that when a person loses control of their car, its very rarely cars fault. So if the CEO of Ford were killed in a car crash, the most rational presumption would be that it was due to driver error not a flaw in the car. But if there were evidence that the crash was caused by a vehicle malfunction, I would expect Ford stock and sales to plummet. I suspect the drop would be a bit bigger than if it was some random driver because the publicity would be bigger.
The Segway is utterly different. Not only is it new and unfamiliar, its control system is so high tech it seems mysterious. So if a user loses control and crashes, its very reasonable to presume that either the Segway malfunctioned or its control system is by its very nature difficult to master or unstable. Furthermore, most people are likely to presume that the owner of Segway will was a very experienced Segway operator. They are unlikely to conclude, that he crashed because he didn't know how to operate the thing properly. Also, because he is owner of a company, people are likely to presume he was a responsible person who wasn't likely driving recklessly for thrills or doing stunts on his Segway. Those presumption may all be wrong, but they are also fairly rational.
The bottom line is that Segway isn't like shoes or cars and it isn't reasonable to expect that peoples reactions would be the same were this accident to have happened to the owner of a prominent shoe or car company.
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There's a Segway shop in my town, but I think they mostly rent them out for tours around town. I don't think anyone has actually ever bought one!
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: Reminds me of when Jim Fixx died while jogging. There should be an ironicdeaths.com
How is either death ironic? If you ride around on a Segway every day for 10 years -- including near cliffs -- the odds start to rise pretty quickly that your death may involve one.
And if you have a family history of heart problems, odds are you'll die while doing something that stresses the heart. (Leaving aside that as was pointed out elsewhere, the running probably added 10 years to his life).
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I think the irony lies in the fact that the guy owned the company that produced the device that he died on.
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"ironic - characterized by often poignant difference or incongruity between what is expected and what actually is"
You would imagine if anyone was going to be safe on an invention, it would be the inventor/owner of the company that makes them. Would it not be ironic if Ralph Nader was killed because he didn't buckle his seatbelt?
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quote:Originally posted by The White Whale: "ironic - characterized by often poignant difference or incongruity between what is expected and what actually is"
You would imagine if anyone was going to be safe on an invention, it would be the inventor/owner of the company that makes them. Would it not be ironic if Ralph Nader was killed because he didn't buckle his seatbelt?
Yes, but in this case the mere fact that he sold segways does not make his segway related death ironic, no more than a car exec dying in a car crash. Vehicles have inherent dangers- it would have been ironic if he had been an activist *against* segways and had somehow been killed by one, or if he had been an advocate of segway safety. Ironic deaths usually require that a person is somehow hoisted on their own petard. In this case, selling segways is not a petard, just a business. Marie Courie's death from cancer was not ironic either, and for the same reasons. The fact that she died from radiation exposure and was a leading researcher into radioactivity is not incongruous, thus it is not properly "ironic."
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quote:Originally posted by The White Whale: I think the irony lies in the fact that the guy owned the company that produced the device that he died on.
So would it be ironic to die in a hospital where you work? To die in a home you own? In the car you normally drive? This doesn't follow very well.
Again, it's ironic to be shot with the gun you invented, but that's being hoisted on your own petard- a segway is not a death dealer, so producing one that will later end up being involved in your own death is sad, but not a particular irony.
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And with Segways, AFAIK, there is not a huge risk of death. So it's not exactly similar to auto CEOs dying in car crashes.
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quote:Originally posted by The White Whale: Okay. So what is it, then? Absurd?
And with Segways, AFAIK, there is not a huge risk of death. So it's not exactly similar to auto CEOs dying in car crashes.
Look, it's just not anything. Why does it have to be something? The guy just died on his segway- he spent a lot of time riding a segway, and it's not the safest thing in the world, and he died. It's not absurd by any reasonable definition, and it's not particularly ironic, it's just a sad accidental death. Honestly, I don't understand this thread- the guy died on his invention, and you need that to be funny? Wake me up when something actually amusing happens.
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quote:And with Segways, AFAIK, there is not a huge risk of death. So it's not exactly similar to auto CEOs dying in car crashes.
I'll bet that if we had the numbers here for the risk of injury per mile driven for Seways vs. automobiles, you'd be surprised at how safe cars are and how dangerous segways are.
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: I'll bet that if we had the numbers here for the risk of injury per mile driven for Seways vs. automobiles, you'd be surprised at how safe cars are and how dangerous segways are.
I suspect this is true.
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To tell the truth, the word that fits it best is the Morrisset definition of "ironic", which pretty much is "amusingly coincidental".
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quote:Wake me up when something actually amusing happens.
It's not like anybody's forcing you to post in uninteresting threads.
I know it ruins your jab, but I wish you'd realized I was commenting on the lack of humor in the situation, not complaining about the lack of humor in this thread. Granted, this thread is not very funny, despite a few people who think they are funny, but aren't. This ought to clear things up.
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The Segway company has been quite active in promoting the safety of their product. They have lobbied extensively to allow Segway access on side walks and other public places on the basis that they are very safe. In my mind, that's what makes the owners death in a Segway accident ironic.
If the CEO of Toyota were killed in a "run away" Prius, now that the company has claimed all such events were caused by driver error, I would consider it ironic.
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The features that would make a vehicle safe on a sidewalk and those that would make it safe on a cliffside probably only overlap a bit.
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I always suspected that song was a perverse commentary on the duties of a songwriter to the meaning of words over trite manipulation of the listener with vivid imagery. It's "ironic" that the song makes no sense but is pretty anyway- or its "ironic" that nothing in the song actually qualifies as irony, and it's a song about irony.
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: The features that would make a vehicle safe on a sidewalk and those that would make it safe on a cliffside probably only overlap a bit.
After all, nobody would consider walking to be unsafe just because somebody fell off a cliff.
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Would it have been ironic if Edsel Ford had died in a Ford Edsel?
First off, I've seen Segways in several malls, and I've seen police officers using them. Then there's GOB.
Seems to me that they're graceful and elegant in a very ungainly way, if that's possible. They're just weird. Bush falling off one was just great slapstick comedy.
I see it kind of like the Remington Microscreen Commercial: "I was so impressed, I bought the company.. wha? Wah wwoooaaaahhhhhhhh!"
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