I watched the Discovery show last night. I think I was really telling that their Indiana Jones guy, who usually rah-rahs whichever hack he’s with that week, was not buying Rush’s BS. There was one point where he looked at the camera with Rush smiling behind him, and his expression clearly said, “What the hell am I doing on this deathtrap?”
Of the two, I think the Netflix one was better - it really dug into the numerous technical problems,
There’s a difference between, “Hold my beer and watch this!” and killing four others besides yourself for the money.
I can only surmise that, being rich and privileged, he just couldn’t conceive of failing because his entire life was spent acquiring every single thing he wanted and being successful at every single thing he did.
Both are thinking physics (or biology, or whatever other science you like) doesn’t apply to you and you will win, despite all evidence to the contrary. And both can and do kill others than just the perpetrator (though certainly certain rich have more ability to hurt more others - but that’s a difference of degree, not kind, and not a difference in arrogance). And, of course, there are actions of both done sober quite often. The person choosing to stay in an area where a hurricane or some such is coming and evacuation has been ordered would be one example. Starting fires when there’s a no-burn regulation in effect is another (and probably more applicable). Same sort of arrogance.
You hit the nail on the head, @Jasmine . He’s been so used to getting his way all good life, that he became a bully towards people who questioned him.
And he became a bully to Isaac Newton and physics.
And he lost.
He was a punk who needed to have the shit kicked out of him for his own good. Finally, 6,000 PSI did it.
Works every time! 
I’ve been watching Titan: The OceanGate Submersible Disaster on Netflix, and I got a good look at his ego. Anyone working on the project was terrified at the prospect of being viewed as negative in any way. Even the most valid concerns voiced in a scientific and nonthreatening way was cause for termination.
The Discovery special did delve a little deeper into his psyche. Because of his family background (and his wife’s), he seems to have felt driven to attain, attain, attain, because otherwise he’d be a failure. Which would be shameful, and not to be borne.
None of which in any way excused his playing Russian roulette with the laws of physics, especially when (as was noted) he had no idea how many rounds were in the pistol. And doubly so when other lives were involved. It just added a bit more context.
Seconded.
Thirded.
Although watching them back-to-back I was surprised at how much they didn’t actually overlap. There was very little of the same footage used in both docs and they used different people for the interviews. I don’t feel like I saw the same thing twice but that each one focused on different aspects.
I not talking about someone who has inherited money, or is male, or is White, or any other trait someone might have lucked into.
You are correct that hubris is not a modern invention, but there is an element of “tech bros” or CEO/entrepreneur who gets accustomed to solving problems by throwing money at them and/or threatening to screw people over if they don’t agree 100% with the owner. Not all people of privilege are like this, but people like Stockton Rush seem to be invariably from privilege.
Rush just didn’t want to hear anything that didn’t conform to his notion of reality. After seeing a number of documentaries on the matter, including the recent Netflix, it’s clear Rush was delusional, convinced he was right and everyone else was wrong, including fact-based evidence that he was wrong.
His “real time acoustical monitoring system” actually worked, you know? It was clear that it was screaming “the fiber is freakin’ failing!” on multiple dives prior to the last one. What sort of idiot installs a warning system then ignores it when it goes off?
Kinda like the fireman on The Best Friend of Charleston who disabled the pressure relief valve because the noise annoyed him.
The emperor has no clothes?
No, he looks great to me! Well dressed, very dapper. He’s dressed to the 9s!
As noted in the article, a LOT of boiler tenders fiddled with safety valves to improve the performance of their boiler. Steamship explosions were also commonplace in that era for that reason.
Those folks’ might not have been as delusional as Rush. But “It won’t happen to me” is a very common human failing.
Did anyone watch, or remember, ABC’s Truth and Lies: Fatal Dive to the Titanic from last year? It’s been over a year since I’ve seen it, and I was wondering how it compares.
It was the noise thing I was thinking of, a boiler explosion being the polar opposite of a submarine hull implosion. About the only thing they have in common is pressure.
And water. Two things they have in common are pressure and water.
Three! Three things are pressure, water, and hubris.
I’ll come in again.
I rewatched the ABC one, it was much mire if a personality story, and less technical. They interviewed people who had made earlier trips, and also the father and son who decided it was too risky and backed out, allowing the other father and son to go. Maybe a bit too much Cameron and footage from Titanic, but it did set the tone.
Thought it did seem Sidonie Nargeolet lost her ability to speak English between 2024 and 2025. 
I forgot about the ABC one. I’m pretty sure I watched it when it came out.
Regarding this that I posted earlier —
That was not in the Discovery documentary. It must have been in another YouTube video. I’ve watched so many that I lost track of where I’d seen that.
I searched for this on YouTube and on YouTube TV, and I couldn’t find it. Do you have a link?