Sunk Costs

I hope that the people on board the OceanGate submersible that has gone missing in the deep sea near the Titanic are saved. Then I hope they go bankrupt, the company that sent them down there goes bankrupt and maybe somebody goes to jail.

Several countries are spending countless millions of dollars to save five people, all of whom should have known better. The dive to the Titanic was not a scientific or historic research mission. It was a joy ride for “adventurers” who could spend $100,000 to $150,000 for the “experience.”

In addition to the cost, the race to save these people might well put their would-be rescuers at risk. And the resources tied up in this mission will not be available should other more mundane rescue missions be needed in other parts of the North Atlantic.

Most importantly, they shouldn’t have been there in the first place. The Titanic is a grave. Whatever legitimate historic research was necessary should have been completed by now. There should be an international agreement to ban tourist visits to the underwater site.

This kind of thing is getting out of hand. Billionaires and celebrities now take joy rides into space and we’re supposed to care as if they were Alan Shepard and John Glenn. I’m less concerned about that since it doesn’t put other people at much risk. If the rocket blows up on the launch pad there will need to be some tidying up, but that’s about it.

More concerning is stuff like Mount Everest. Climbing the world’s most dangerous peak has become a bucket list thing for rich adventurers. Every year about 800 people, most unprepared for what it takes, attempt to make the climb. Costs run between $30,000 and $200,000, depending on the level amenities you want to take along. Their lack of preparation puts the lives of their sherpa guides at risk. This year alone 12 people have been killed and three are missing. Just this month a sherpa heroically rescued an ill-prepared (but well-heeled) climber.

And while they’re at it the climbers litter the mountain with their discarded gear and garbage along with, sometimes, their own bodies.

Time is running out for the OceanGate five. It’s beginning to look as if their craft imploded or lost power and remains helplessly and hopelessly at the bottom. If they die, I’m not going to celebrate their deaths. After all, these people aren’t Osama bin Laden. But what they did was irresponsible. They needlessly put the lives of others at risk so that they could do something that they shouldn’t have been doing to begin with.

If they do die then let’s hope it’s not in vain. Let’s hope it brings greater focus — and some action — on this needless high-end adventuring that too often threatens the lives of innocent people. If you’re a billionaire with a bucket list, why don’t you try to break par at Augusta?