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This is extraordinarily sad news. Shame on the posters here who seem to be taking delight in judgment. The guy is dead, grow up.
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Tasteless? I don't think you're getting it. He risked his life completely unnecessarily while he needed to be a father. What he has done is categorically selfish. Your defense of his actions is that "It was his lifelong ambition." If you believe that then you already acknowledge that his action is selfish; his ambition caused him to abandon his responsibilities as a father and husband. I don't see it as much as criti…
How about that we remain silent.on matters of which we are ignorant? We are not party to this man's innermost thoughts and family conversations indeed such is none of our business and it is more than a touch offensive to offer up judgments. Let's leave the family to mourn their loss, shall we?
Are not all the facts of this case known? Father of N, does something dangerous and unnecessary, leaves N children fatherless. Are there other relevant issues of fact that we do not know?
True, it may be tasteless to call it out . . . but the internet is tasteless. :-/
Sad. But I have to say - climbing Everest when your wife is due to give birth - not cool. Overall death rate for Everest climbers is pretty close to 3% - pretty high (although its been falling). Edit: 3% is for climbers above base camp - for summit climbers its close to 10%! According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Mount_Everest_disaster
I don't understand all this harsh judgement, especially from the HN crowd. Who are you to say what he should or shouldn't do? He essentially died from a freak accident that couldn't be predicted ahead of time. Telling him that he shouldn't do something because he's married with children is like someone telling you you shouldn't pursue a dream (whether that be climbing a mountain or trying an innovative startup with a…
Sad. But I have to say - climbing Everest when your wife is due to give birth - not cool. Overall death rate for Everest climbers is pretty close to 3% - pretty high (although its been falling). Edit: 3% is for climbers above base camp - for summit climbers its close to 10%! According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Mount_Everest_disaster
I don't understand all this harsh judgement, especially from the HN crowd. Who are you to say what he should or shouldn't do? He essentially died from a freak accident that couldn't be predicted ahead of time. Telling him that he shouldn't do something because he's married with children is like someone telling you you shouldn't pursue a dream (whether that be climbing a mountain or trying an innovative startup with a…
By going off and risking his life on a personal accomplishment, he wasn't doing the best job to protect his family. There are an unlimited number of other ways that he could have challenged himself physically and mentally without the risk to the people close to him.
This isn't a criticism of John as a person, but a decision that he made. I don't know who he was and I'm sure that he was a great man. But he put his family at risk to pursue a challenge that is mostly a boost to his own ego.
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His family was enabling his narcissism.
Having actually known John in real life, I disagree with your description of him as a narcissist.
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I don't understand all this harsh judgement, especially from the HN crowd. Who are you to say what he should or shouldn't do? He essentially died from a freak accident that couldn't be predicted ahead of time. Telling him that he shouldn't do something because he's married with children is like someone telling you you shouldn't pursue a dream (whether that be climbing a mountain or trying an innovative startup with a…
1 in 10 chance isn't a freak accident, its called being reckless and I don't see anything to feel bad about.
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1 in 10 chance isn't a freak accident, its called being reckless and I don't see anything to feel bad about.
i wonder if, assuming he had one, his life insurance policy will pay out or if this will be considered a reckless action on his part.
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Ok this is kind of ridiculous. Really? Really? No I'm quite sure in this case it's definitely selfish, independent of what his wife thinks. And not passing judgement on the dead? Cmon man you have to be trolling.
I happen to believe that criticizing people that cannot defend themselves is tasteless, and judging situations that I know nothing about is misguided. I'm sure there is a lot of this story that we will never know, criticism is not going to change anything and if anything is offensive to the bereaved.
That's not how the intertubes, or people for that matter, work.
Consider - there's another thread on HN right now about the utility of battleships. It's full of strongly held opinions by folks who confuse being smart with knowing what they're talking about. Oh, and the critics are savaging the long dead folks who built battleships.
I have yet to meet anyone who started a company and is not a little crazy, and a little less risk-averse than most.
Where do you draw the line for acceptable behavior? Is flying a plane OK? Riding a motorcycle? Skydiving? Having an extra helping of dessert?
Hell, starting a company is a risk and takes a toll on a family.
Whenever you read a tragic story like this, you try to think of all the reasons it couldn't happen to you.
He spun the dice, maybe a little harder than most, and he lost. You could draw an unlucky card tomorrow driving in your car, or get cancer from your cell phone.
If you don't want to spin the dice that hard, you don't have to, I know I wouldn't. Some people have the need to go to the limit. They shouldn't put others at risk. But if he was a CEO and reasonably prudent, the family is, I hope, well-provided for. If he loved them, and he did that and died doing something he loved, bad break and a life well lived.