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Replying to this and jen729's comment, which I can't reply to for some reason. I'm not entirely sure why this got downvoted (bit of a personal gripe with YC (a

Replying to this and jen729's comment, which I can't reply to for some reason. I'm not entirely sure why this got downvoted (bit of a personal gripe with YC (anonymous down voting/spamming without a direct comment).. buuuut This idea is only 'silly' if you think of it as a large amount of lead lining. In this day-in-age, I'm sure the idea of a material/substance around it that stops combustion when something like this happens is surely not out of reach.. I'm as far away from a chemical engineer as you can get, but, if it requires oxygen to burn, maybe some incredibly strong substance around it to contain the chemicals if the battery expands. Or some to absorb oxygen around it. I dunno, maybe I'm incredibly naive, but it feels like something that, if a portion of the companies that manufacturer/use the batteries put effort into something, it's something that could be made _more_ safe in some way?

romwell 5y ago
>I'm not entirely sure why this got downvoted Because we are on HackerNews, where the consequences of their own actions only exist for individuals and not the corporations they hope to be CEOs of one day. I didn't realize that I'd need to argue, in 2021, that selling people dangerous products as safe is, in principle, wrong, but here we are. To people asking "What did the OP expect", the answer is: whatever the instruction manual said on Page 1. And it surely didn't say: "WARNING: MAY KILL YOU DURING NORMAL OPERATION". Once it does, we can have a discussion about everything else.
- Linosaurus 5y ago
  > whatever the instruction manual said on Page 1. And it surely didn't say: "WARNING: MAY KILL YOU DURING NORMAL OPERATION". Tbh it probably wouldn't take much to get that added to the boilerplate warnings of every battery product sold, just in case.
  - romwell 5y ago
    The point is, the manufacturers of safe products will have a selling point by being able to differentiated themselves. Heck, wired headphone makers will get a boost from that.
multjoy 5y ago
Big Asbestos enters the chat
mrmattyboy 5y ago
and I got down voted :( Honestly like little daggers and makes me really never want to comment on HN. Surely the idea of the world putting some effort into producing a material that can help stop this happening isn't completely stupid...?
- romwell 5y ago
  >Surely the idea of the world putting some effort into producing a material that can help stop this happening isn't completely stupid...? HN, the forum of innovators who are vehemently against innovation if it's for the sake of consumer safety. I mean, come one people, it's a business opportunity. Figure out how to make non-self-exploding headphones, with a guarantee, and crush Bose in the free market on that selling point. Sigh.
  - fastball 5y ago
    You're kinda arguing for wired headphones in a different part of this thread. Bit of a stretch to say you're "pro-innovation" in this context.

romwell 5y ago

>I'm not entirely sure why this got downvoted Because we are on HackerNews, where the consequences of their own actions only exist for individuals and not the corporations they hope to be CEOs of one day. I didn't realize that I'd need to argue, in 2021, that selling people dangerous products as safe is, in principle, wrong, but here we are. To people asking "What did the OP expect", the answer is: whatever the instruction manual said on Page 1. And it surely didn't say: "WARNING: MAY KILL YOU DURING NORMAL OPERATION". Once it does, we can have a discussion about everything else.

Linosaurus 5y ago
> whatever the instruction manual said on Page 1. And it surely didn't say: "WARNING: MAY KILL YOU DURING NORMAL OPERATION". Tbh it probably wouldn't take much to get that added to the boilerplate warnings of every battery product sold, just in case.
- romwell 5y ago
  The point is, the manufacturers of safe products will have a selling point by being able to differentiated themselves. Heck, wired headphone makers will get a boost from that.

multjoy 5y ago

Big Asbestos enters the chat

mrmattyboy 5y ago

and I got down voted :( Honestly like little daggers and makes me really never want to comment on HN. Surely the idea of the world putting some effort into producing a material that can help stop this happening isn't completely stupid...?

romwell 5y ago
>Surely the idea of the world putting some effort into producing a material that can help stop this happening isn't completely stupid...? HN, the forum of innovators who are vehemently against innovation if it's for the sake of consumer safety. I mean, come one people, it's a business opportunity. Figure out how to make non-self-exploding headphones, with a guarantee, and crush Bose in the free market on that selling point. Sigh.
- fastball 5y ago
  You're kinda arguing for wired headphones in a different part of this thread. Bit of a stretch to say you're "pro-innovation" in this context.