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Six hours late on this thread and I can't see anyone calling out GoPro and friends: >Five days earlier, the GoPro star Uli Emanuele, 29, died when he crashed i

Six hours late on this thread and I can't see anyone calling out GoPro and friends: >Five days earlier, the GoPro star Uli Emanuele, 29, died when he crashed in the Dolomites of his native country, Italy. Freedom for these people (mostly young men) to die is one thing. But part of GoPro's profits are knowingly built up by a quasi-suicide cult. That's not that different from dealing heroin.

lr 9y ago
You have to wonder, how many of them would be doing this (or any other "crazy" thing) if there were no cameras, no YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram Live, etc.?
- JshWright 9y ago
  I don't know how many people are doing it for the "internet fame" (my gut instinct is that it's a small percentage), but I'm sure there are many people who got into the sport in the first place because they watched it on the internet.
  - kogepathic 9y ago
    > I don't know how many people are doing it for the "internet fame" (my gut instinct is that it's a small percentage) I don't have any numbers, but as with anything else (e.g. Russian dash cams) I don't feel that the behaviour of people has really changed. The difference now is everyone has a camera strapped to them, and with social media it's much easier to hear about someone who died doing X than in previous decades. BASE jumping is a dangerous sport. The advent of live streaming and HD cameras small enough to strap to your helmet and hand haven't changed this, but rather raised the profile of a failure.
    - logfromblammo 9y ago
      People were white-lining with their crotch-rocket motorcycles at 135 mph before cameras got small enough to mount on their helmets. They used to just be a page 3 story in the local newspaper. Now their final rides are re-posted to every "rekt" thread. Perhaps eventually, enough people will absorb the lesson that doing a dangerous thing is dangerous, and will stop trying to make the "oh shit" glands above their kidneys express their "we're about to die" juice. I have seen enough of those videos that I'm pretty sure that the way I will die is by my tiny commuter sedan being forcibly disassembled by a heavy tractor-trailer or large SUV that crosses the center line. Humans are such fragile things. Why would you intentionally do things that might get your brains splattered across a rock, when we only have another 40 to 60 years to go until you can make a backup almost as good as biology provided?
    - bartread 9y ago
      To some extent I agree, but there are fads and fashions. I'd say the massive growth in popularity of, not just BASE, but other extreme sports, is down to publicity (in various forms) and accessibility. There's now so much content online that if, say, you've ever been skiing it's pretty hard to avoid seeing some BASE jumping footage, and then you get to thinking, "that looks pretty cool," and then some of those people decide to try it. My take on BASE jumping is that it is kind of cool and exciting but not something you should take up if you have any kind of aspirations or ambitions in any other area of your life because the risk profile is simply too extreme. You can ski your whole life and unless you're constantly doing hardcore back-country, probably, the worst thing that might happen to you is a broken leg. Even that's too much for some people. Contrast that with BASE jumping, where if you do it for long enough it seems like the chances of dying for any other reason drop almost to zero. But people see how cool it is and don't necessarily assess the risk. And then there's the fact that to achieve any kind of success/celebrity, even enough to just about eke out a living, you have to keep pushing to ever more extreme feats. Filming that is part and parcel of ekeing out that living. And of course, as a side-effect, it increases interest in the sport and gets more people into it.
- jsjohnst 9y ago
  Considering many were doing it long before YouTube and Facebook existed, I'm not sure I'd blame the delivery platform.
pipio21 9y ago
Lots of differences with heroin. I have been volunteer in a Spanish org called "proyecto hombre" that help people with drugs. People on drugs are almost non human in order to take a dose, they will kill you,or steal and they really don't care because the only thing they care about is their next dose. Once you have recovered the person it looks like another one, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I also did BASE in the past. I don't do it anymore because my girlfriend, I do sky diving which is way safer. Most of what we have today, like airplanes, is possible because someone quasi suicided(Christopher Columbus, Magellan, Pasteur, the Curies, von Braum with rockets...). Almost any single aircraft pioneer died as a result of accidents on their prototypes.
- delhanty 9y ago
  >...like airplanes, is possible because someone quasi suicided I agree with some of that. Progress and freedom have costs. Where it gets problematic for me is when there is a promoting entity that doesn't have skin in the game [0]. Also, maybe drugs weren't the best analogy: What about MMA (mixed-martial arts)? Would the UFC be tolerated if the death-rates matched wing suit jumping? Also, one-way trips to Mars: Are those people and entities promoting the idea planning to go to Mars themselves? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_in_the_game_(phrase) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_in_the_game_(phrase)
  - dalbasal 9y ago
    Pugilism is almost unique. Players are trying to hurt eachother. That's the competition. If many people were dying, then it would be a sport where you try and sometimes succeed in killing an oponent. That's different in most minds from "dangerous." A lot of things are tolerated (in that they aren't prevented) that are very high risk. Mountaineering is the first one that comes to mind. All that said, I kind of agree with you. GoPro (also redbull and some others) are drawing benefits from uniquely risky activities. This creates an incentive problem. It would make sense for this issues to go in front of a judge.
0xfeba 9y ago
> But part of GoPro's profits are knowingly built up by a quasi-suicide cult. How is that?
- krisives 9y ago
  They will gladly broadcast and support the success of a stunt but I don't see them around when one fails
  - Allower 9y ago
    Have you checked?

lr 9y ago

You have to wonder, how many of them would be doing this (or any other "crazy" thing) if there were no cameras, no YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram Live, etc.?

JshWright 9y ago
I don't know how many people are doing it for the "internet fame" (my gut instinct is that it's a small percentage), but I'm sure there are many people who got into the sport in the first place because they watched it on the internet.
- kogepathic 9y ago
  > I don't know how many people are doing it for the "internet fame" (my gut instinct is that it's a small percentage) I don't have any numbers, but as with anything else (e.g. Russian dash cams) I don't feel that the behaviour of people has really changed. The difference now is everyone has a camera strapped to them, and with social media it's much easier to hear about someone who died doing X than in previous decades. BASE jumping is a dangerous sport. The advent of live streaming and HD cameras small enough to strap to your helmet and hand haven't changed this, but rather raised the profile of a failure.
  - logfromblammo 9y ago
    People were white-lining with their crotch-rocket motorcycles at 135 mph before cameras got small enough to mount on their helmets. They used to just be a page 3 story in the local newspaper. Now their final rides are re-posted to every "rekt" thread. Perhaps eventually, enough people will absorb the lesson that doing a dangerous thing is dangerous, and will stop trying to make the "oh shit" glands above their kidneys express their "we're about to die" juice. I have seen enough of those videos that I'm pretty sure that the way I will die is by my tiny commuter sedan being forcibly disassembled by a heavy tractor-trailer or large SUV that crosses the center line. Humans are such fragile things. Why would you intentionally do things that might get your brains splattered across a rock, when we only have another 40 to 60 years to go until you can make a backup almost as good as biology provided?
  - bartread 9y ago
    To some extent I agree, but there are fads and fashions. I'd say the massive growth in popularity of, not just BASE, but other extreme sports, is down to publicity (in various forms) and accessibility. There's now so much content online that if, say, you've ever been skiing it's pretty hard to avoid seeing some BASE jumping footage, and then you get to thinking, "that looks pretty cool," and then some of those people decide to try it. My take on BASE jumping is that it is kind of cool and exciting but not something you should take up if you have any kind of aspirations or ambitions in any other area of your life because the risk profile is simply too extreme. You can ski your whole life and unless you're constantly doing hardcore back-country, probably, the worst thing that might happen to you is a broken leg. Even that's too much for some people. Contrast that with BASE jumping, where if you do it for long enough it seems like the chances of dying for any other reason drop almost to zero. But people see how cool it is and don't necessarily assess the risk. And then there's the fact that to achieve any kind of success/celebrity, even enough to just about eke out a living, you have to keep pushing to ever more extreme feats. Filming that is part and parcel of ekeing out that living. And of course, as a side-effect, it increases interest in the sport and gets more people into it.
jsjohnst 9y ago
Considering many were doing it long before YouTube and Facebook existed, I'm not sure I'd blame the delivery platform.

pipio21 9y ago

Lots of differences with heroin. I have been volunteer in a Spanish org called "proyecto hombre" that help people with drugs. People on drugs are almost non human in order to take a dose, they will kill you,or steal and they really don't care because the only thing they care about is their next dose. Once you have recovered the person it looks like another one, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I also did BASE in the past. I don't do it anymore because my girlfriend, I do sky diving which is way safer. Most of what we have today, like airplanes, is possible because someone quasi suicided(Christopher Columbus, Magellan, Pasteur, the Curies, von Braum with rockets...). Almost any single aircraft pioneer died as a result of accidents on their prototypes.

delhanty 9y ago
>...like airplanes, is possible because someone quasi suicided I agree with some of that. Progress and freedom have costs. Where it gets problematic for me is when there is a promoting entity that doesn't have skin in the game [0]. Also, maybe drugs weren't the best analogy: What about MMA (mixed-martial arts)? Would the UFC be tolerated if the death-rates matched wing suit jumping? Also, one-way trips to Mars: Are those people and entities promoting the idea planning to go to Mars themselves? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_in_the_game_(phrase) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_in_the_game_(phrase)
- dalbasal 9y ago
  Pugilism is almost unique. Players are trying to hurt eachother. That's the competition. If many people were dying, then it would be a sport where you try and sometimes succeed in killing an oponent. That's different in most minds from "dangerous." A lot of things are tolerated (in that they aren't prevented) that are very high risk. Mountaineering is the first one that comes to mind. All that said, I kind of agree with you. GoPro (also redbull and some others) are drawing benefits from uniquely risky activities. This creates an incentive problem. It would make sense for this issues to go in front of a judge.

0xfeba 9y ago

> But part of GoPro's profits are knowingly built up by a quasi-suicide cult. How is that?

krisives 9y ago
They will gladly broadcast and support the success of a stunt but I don't see them around when one fails
- Allower 9y ago
  Have you checked?