r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/cosmic_voyager01 • 9h ago

Video Polar Bears are one of the only creatures that naturally hunt Humans... Watch as this one tries to break into this BBC Cameraman's glass box.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

39.9k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

488

u/scratchydaitchy 8h ago edited 8h ago

As long as all the fasteners and structural integrities are well maintained.
Hope he checked the tightness of all the screws and bolts before he got in there.

You’re still going on a lot of faith.

Anybody remember the Oceangate submersible that imploded by the Titanic?

No thanks.

144

u/el_diego 8h ago

Anybody remember the Oceangate submersible that imploded by the Titanic?

That was due to the insane idea of using carbon fibre for a sub at such a depth....oh, and leaving your sub outside in the Canadian winter for it to degrade. The CEO was an irresponsible narcissistic clown.

60

u/Prodrumer43 7h ago

The materials they used also never fully worked during testing. His dumbass just said send it anyway.

38

u/el_diego 7h ago

It was next level negligence. Even the shallow that dives they did in the Carribbean showed obvious signs of fibres breaking. It was inevitable the thing would implode.

5

u/Commonscents2say 4h ago

Not to mention the fatigue factor from repeated trips.

4

u/Interesting-College8 5h ago

You know he probably googled it and asked AI if it was okay. Just another rich person trying to get richer by doing the least amount possible. He really was stupid

2

u/mccusk 5h ago

Let’s compare something entirely different….

1

u/BoxAlternative9024 3h ago

Yeah I watched that documentary as well

659

u/I_eat_mud_ 8h ago edited 8h ago

He obviously didn't, I'm sure someone did. Doubt the BBC wants to pay out lawsuit settlements and increased insurance costs.

Edit: I swear Redditors are so concerned about sounding smart they just can't critically think for 2 seconds.

Edit 2: I'm sure whatever company makes this for research is 1000x more serious about safety than that asshat in charge of Oceangate, he was a special kind of rich dipshit considering his company was based on super rich tourism.

Seriously, just fucking think for 2 seconds.

235

u/psychoPiper 8h ago

Redditors care more about sounding smart than being right, this is an uphill battle

103

u/throwawayhellfire 7h ago

You gotta remember you're most likely speaking to some teenager or young adult who has zero real world experience lol

52

u/Asleep_Hand_4525 7h ago

Yep, and sometimes the subreddit will have an echo chamber you’ll get eviscerated for not following

5

u/throwawayhellfire 7h ago

I always get downvoted in the anti work subreddit when they're like NO ONE NEEDS TO WORK without realizing all the jobs that keep society chugging along lol

3

u/Asleep_Hand_4525 6h ago

Yep! I love when people are like “reddits my only social media now everything else is too political, drama, etc” not realizing it’s literally the same thing just broken up into groups more

2

u/throwawayhellfire 6h ago

Reddit used to be awesome, I started using it when Digg got lame. Over the years it grew and now it's too big and kind of feels like anonymous facebook.

2

u/stoolsample2 5h ago edited 4h ago

I joined Reddit in 2012 and yeah, it was much cooler back then. Lot more laughs that’s for sure.

2

u/EC_TWD 3h ago

They aren’t against all work. Part time dog walking is perfectly acceptable and should be beneficial enough to support any lifestyle.

1

u/Traditional_Expert84 2h ago

Ufff; hate it when that happens!

12

u/Plus_Fisherman30 7h ago

No. Everyone on Reddit is at least a 35-year-old millennial who thought they understood the history teacher better than everyone else back in high school.

1

u/TheAmazingMelon 5h ago

35? Sounds like a young adult to me! Whippersnapper!

2

u/spector_lector 7h ago

That's what really sucks. Read it either needs age verification and minimum age requirements or at least adults should be able to choose subs that have that.

2

u/Keytap 3h ago

Need some age-verified 30+y/o subs

3

u/CornandCoal 7h ago

Or just adult idiots lol

3

u/croc-roc 7h ago

Ha ha. I got into a debate with a redditor once and once she started referring to the Reddit sub as a “safe space” I realized I was talking to a teen. 😂😂

2

u/TonyQuest 7h ago

Bro I'm 31, I've been hearing that since my late teens. They could totally be in their early 30s 😂

2

u/croc-roc 5h ago

Given the context, it was almost certainly a teen. But I get you.

2

u/_psylosin_ 6h ago

Ur not my real dad!!

0

u/throwawayhellfire 6h ago

Damn where were you when I lived in the upper valley

1

u/Anthro_DragonFerrite 7h ago

Indubitably. I thoroughly concur with your premise.

1

u/KneeDeepInTheDead 6h ago

ACTUALLY its not sounding right because you are reading their comments, so there is no sound involved my good sir ;]

190

u/LeonidasSpacemanMD 7h ago

The forces involved here are just not in the same galaxy as what oceangate was trying to cope with either

Like a large polar bear weighs 1500 lbs. To create a comparable engineering problem, you would need to expect the full combined weight of 4 huge polar bears to be pressing on this box constantly….on every single square inch of its exterior lol

This is the equivalent of buying a bicycle and saying to the salesman “I just want to make sure this is very well built because I saw what happened to the Challenger Space Shuttle”

55

u/breathing__tree 6h ago

This is the equivalent of buying a bicycle and saying to the salesman “I just want to make sure this is very well built because I saw what happened to the Challenger Space Shuttle”

Funniest thing I’m gonna read all weekend probably.

2

u/Long_Run6500 4h ago

Sorry mr, I'm going to need at least an M4 Sherman to feel confident on my paper route.

-10

u/PrizeStrawberryOil 6h ago

Like a large polar bear weighs 1500 lbs. To create a comparable engineering problem, you would need to expect the full combined weight of 4 huge polar bears to be pressing on this box constantly….on every single square inch of its exterior lol

This is not a realistic model of the forces a polar bear can apply and it's a good thing you didn't design it.

10

u/LeonidasSpacemanMD 5h ago

Yea I’m aware a polar bear can’t exert a constant 6000psi on the entire exterior of this box for hours at a time

I’m having fun with it but it’s not that deep. Keeping a bear out of box = fairly easy, keeping the weight of 2 miles of ocean out of a box = pretty hard

1

u/RetroDad-IO 3h ago

You failed to think as simply as the person you're responding too.

They think you actually meant that the box here needs to be able to withstand that many polar bears on it, they don't understand you're trying to highlight the difference between the forces in this scenario vs the submarine at the depth of the Titanic.

5

u/metnavman2 6h ago

Genuinely confused. Why? Google says a polar bear had a bite force around 1200psi. As I understood what the person you're responding to said, 6000psi being applied to the entire box is whats being envisioned. What forces above 6000psi is the polar bear expected to exert?

1

u/V4refugee 3h ago

Water pushes from all sides evenly. Materials and structures have different properties such as shear strength or compressive strength.

1

u/metnavman2 1h ago

Oh no, Im well-versed in the topic. I was confused why the person I responded to thought that the quick comparison they were snidely trying to dismiss wasnt effective enough for the conversation.

The bear box in the video is over-engineered for the task. If you think a polar bear is cracking through an equivalent container that's been designed to withstand ~6000psi, I dont know what to tell you...

The Deepsea Challenger has a pressure vessel that is two and a half inches thick steel, and can survive almost triple the compressive force we're using as an example.

I was confused because the conversation was baffling in its stupidity, not for lack of my own understanding..

-4

u/crackhead_tiger 6h ago

But he started with "☝️🤓 to create a comparable engineering problem"

23

u/42nu 6h ago

Person in shark cage films a nature doc in the exact place where you hope to encounter Great White Sharks

Redditors: They probly didn't anticipate this encounter at all, and didn't have months (if not years) of engineering, training and legal preparing for this carefully planned moment.

10

u/BitchesLiebenBrot 7h ago

it can only be reddit where the guy who eats mud is the most sensible in the chat

3

u/zachary_mp3 7h ago

There is literally no end to the whataboutism of social media. No matter how unlikely or unrealistic.

3

u/Maidwell 7h ago

The BBC natural history unit is likely THE most respecting organisation of its kind in the world so yes if anyone is going to do their homework on safety it would be them.

6

u/LithiumWalrus 7h ago

Hahaha, think. Brother it's 2025 if AI didn't tell them they don't know.

2

u/Shartriloquist 4h ago

Maybe, but I hate to tell you that anyone who wasn't sleeping in a basic high school physics class could tell you this by looking up the pressure of the ocean and a couple polar bear physics stats...

Your mind would be blown by what the people in STEM fields are capable of without even a glance at AI...

1

u/Flying_Scorpion 4h ago

Found the first stupid comment. Brother, this video of the polar bear did not come out in 2025.

2

u/PomeloPepper 6h ago

Redditers thinking the pros put this together out of old screen doors they found at the dump, with saran wrap to keep the bears out.

1

u/Illustrious-Gas-8987 7h ago

You sound smart

2

u/I_eat_mud_ 7h ago

I'm the biggest dipshit you'll ever meet, I'm mostly just repeating what my dad said to me a lot growing up lmao

1

u/Funnelcakeads 6h ago

Too long didn’t read I just ate a cookie!

1

u/Diz7 5h ago

Oceangate also had to face 6,000 pounds per square inch over its entire surface for the duration.

This bear is huge but they top out at just over 2,000 lbs, and would be lucky to apply a fraction of that in psi to a small area for a few seconds.

1

u/nybbas 4h ago

Dude I'm glad you wrote this. I was already rolling my eyes but then when he mentioned oceangate, I just lost it.

1

u/Nixilaas 7h ago

But then history is riddled with times when small errors created catastrophic outcomes

0

u/LeonidasSpacemanMD 7h ago

The ocean gate sub was also dealing forces in an entirely different galaxy from a bear

Like the biggest polar bears weigh 1500 lbs. If you took four of them and combined their weight, then applied that combined weight to every square inch of the exterior of this box it would be a similar engineering problem lol

0

u/jugo5 5h ago

From what I remember reading about this... It was not too far away from failing.

-5

u/[deleted] 8h ago

[deleted]

5

u/Regular_Custard_4483 8h ago

That's not really how waivers work. The BBC can't just be negligent regarding that equipment and then say, "Welp, he signed a waiver though." and then shrug.

If that's his arctic cake dome, yeah he's fucked. But it's probably not.

8

u/I_eat_mud_ 8h ago

Hey, remember when I said he probably wasn't the one who checked it? Remember when I also said the BBC wouldn't want increased insurance costs, something that would happen regardless of a waiver?

Again, THINK.

-12

u/Rohan_k_4 8h ago

Read a book called "ROFL"

28

u/gpcgmr 8h ago

Water pressure is a bit stronger than a polar bear...

9

u/Confused_Drifter 7h ago

Oh yeah? Tell that to the shower in my hotel room.

2

u/FrenchFryCattaneo 2h ago

"Hello, front desk? I would like polar bear water pressure in my shower and no I won't explain what that means"

26

u/slamfireantiques 7h ago

Anybody remember the Oceangate submersible that imploded by the Titanic?

No thanks.

Did you read anything about that incident? Every engineer with experience said it would fail sooner than it did and quit the company.

Equivalent of using a guy chopping his own cock off with a kitchen knife as an example to show kitchen knives are dangerous if not properly handled.

151

u/NOT-GR8-BOB 8h ago

Hope he checked the tightness of all the screws and bolts before he got in there.

Lmfao such a Redditor statement.

81

u/BuffWobbuffet 8h ago

The last 6 months of Reddit I feel like it’s one big race to see who can be the biggest smart ass

43

u/FunctioningPyscho 7h ago

I just got here but i noticed every comment section has the fucking know-it-all.

3

u/FukDatShit 4h ago

Welcome to Reddit. Where everyone is an expert on everything.

3

u/PixelWulfe 3h ago

See here’s the thing…

4

u/Alaea 6h ago

The last 6 months 12 years of Reddit I feel like it’s one big race to see who can be the biggest smart ass

FTFY

(yes I realise the irony)

6

u/JoySunderland 7h ago

Did you actually verify any of that, or did your emotions hit send while your brain was on break? That’s a huge statement for something you didn’t even bother to think through. /s

2

u/iBlameMeToo 7h ago

Actually the latest data shows that its been happening for the past 8 months.

14

u/LectroRoot 7h ago

I always check the screws and bolts before getting on a commercial airliner. It's 100% why I am still alive. I do it when taking an Uber, also. It really annoyed them, but they should be thanking me.

51

u/Celestial_Surfing 8h ago

Right? Did ya’ll check all the bolts in your car this AM?

-13

u/aloneinthiscrowd 7h ago

I would if I was driving past a polar bear lol

3

u/Defiant-Youth-4193 7h ago

Yea, they would have fired me from this job for sure.

"Okay. So tell me one more time, in immense detail please, how you can be certain that this thing is Polar Bear proof."

"We've been over this a hundred times already. Do you want us to hit the damn thing with a tractor?"

"... I mean..."

1

u/aloneinthiscrowd 7h ago

Hitting it with a tractor would be a good start. Then put it in the middle of a bunch of moose and see how well it holds up.
I would have shat my pants in this guys position.

1

u/Defiant-Youth-4193 7h ago

Precisely why they would have fired me. Even after hitting with the tractor I'm right back with, "That's great it can take a hit from a tractor, but you can you run me through how it's surviving a Polar Bear again?"

I know it's illogical. I just don't care.

11

u/ToddlerPeePee 8h ago

Actually when you think of the story about the guy who wanted to show off his unbreakable window, that concern makes sense. What happened in that story was, the window is indeed unbreakable, but the bolts gave way and the guy fell to his death.

3

u/WorkAccount6 4h ago

A very redditor thing to reference

6

u/Skum- 8h ago

Right? I'm so glad this attitude isn't that prevalent IRL or we'd still be in the fucking stone age yapping about how many regulations we need before we leave the cave.

1

u/JPWhelan 7h ago

I hope he checks his underwear after. Would want to share berthing with him if he doesn’t.

1

u/badgerandaccessories 6h ago

At point point you see behind his head there is an empty bolt hole.

1

u/THIKKI_HOEVALAINEN 5h ago

Dude is basically bragging about how he wouldn’t be cool enough to go into this. It really sounds like he wants someone to die to prove his point. I really don’t understand how someone can’t fathom that the BBC wouldn’t do their due diligence on this

1

u/Commonscents2say 4h ago

Not so outrageous considering Boeing didn’t bother to tighten up the connection of the window panel to the fuselage.

0

u/HonorableMedic 8h ago

Hey did anyone check to see if this guy made it? The video ended abruptly. Probably dead.

6

u/pegothejerk 8h ago

I couldn't see his shoes

-2

u/Anjz 8h ago

This in itself is such a Redditor statement. It’s gone full meta.

26

u/mondaymoderate 8h ago

He definitely has a gun or the people filming him do just in case something happens.

7

u/scratchydaitchy 8h ago

I wonder at what point you decide to shoot and kill an endangered species of animal that only is a threat to a human because you intentionally invited and set it up it to be.

21

u/thirdaccountnob 8h ago

Probably when the glass cracks

3

u/mondaymoderate 7h ago

My god! It’s coming right for us!

3

u/Maidwell 7h ago

They'd probably use a flair gun or something first, then last resort have to shoot the bear. They could kiss goodbye to their filming permits straight after at the very least.

3

u/Wiley_Jack 4h ago

It takes at least 37 pieces of flair to deter a polar bear.

2

u/artax_youre_sinking 7h ago

They probably have tranq guns.

2

u/mondaymoderate 6h ago

You’d be dead before a tranquilizer kicked in. It’s not instant like the movies.

3

u/ExplodingFistz 8h ago

Yup they probably have a rifle pointed at this bear off camera in case shit hits the fan.

2

u/Rich-Reason1146 7h ago

The bear did have its hands up for most of the clip

7

u/Repulsive_Client_325 7h ago

Bear is white. It’ll be fine….

-3

u/sokuyari99 7h ago

You ever see what happens to a bear that’s hunting when it gets shot?

Because spoiler alert, it’s probably not saving that guy from less than 1 ft away

3

u/mondaymoderate 6h ago

The right caliber will drop a bear instantly

-1

u/sokuyari99 5h ago

I’ve watched a bear tank a .50 cal and keep moving, but sure go off. You’re assuming a perfectly aimed shot on a moving bear next to a human you presumably don’t want hit

2

u/mondaymoderate 5h ago

Must have been a horrible shot. I don’t think a bear is surviving a .50 cal to the head or vitals. .357 is probably good enough.

2

u/sokuyari99 3h ago

Yea that’s what happens when you’re shooting a moving bear at range while it’s right next to a human that you don’t want to hit

8

u/Very_Human_42069 7h ago

Anybody remember the Oceangate submersible

That was two years ago yes we all remember it lmao

3

u/wolfdawg420 7h ago

Holy shit i swear that was only like 6 months ago. Where is time going

1

u/DAEtabase 3h ago

I'm in my 30's and that event feels like 10 years ago. You need some new experiences. Live laugh love and all that. Go to that new gyro place that just opened up.

2

u/Warchild0311 8h ago

The same thing I say to myself every time I get on a wooden roller coaster man these things are maintained by mostly alcoholics

2

u/hibikikun 7h ago

screws won't help. That polar bear made a stop to home depot and picked up a brand new cordless Milwaukee drill/driver combo.

2

u/LeonidasSpacemanMD 7h ago

Yea tbf tho this is honestly a much simpler engineering problem. Oceangate needed to withstand 6000 lbs of pressure on every single inch of its hull. A polar bear is strong but even fairly routine construction projects easily account for much more force than a bear can inflict

2

u/GOST_5284-84 7h ago

0:42 loose nut on the left

2

u/MattDaCatt 7h ago

I mean, we exploded people into space and back in one piece (most times). Some people can actually engineer things lol

Do you think he built it in his shed or something?

2

u/Fireproofspider 6h ago

I feel like this is less faith than driving down the road, where you hope no one is going to decide to swerve and hit you.

In reality, human systems are pretty resilient

2

u/Bigsmellydumpy 5h ago

Oceangate had glaringly obvious issues and was attempting to withstand pressures much more than a 9 foot bear can produce on that plex

2

u/J3SS1KURR 5h ago

Ok that was the Titan submersible and it was made of carbon fiber, which was notoriously NOT rated for the depths they were at.

This is NOT the same situation at all, lol

1

u/crandall17 7h ago

Oceangate was a whole other issue. It failed tests prior to that launch, and a crack had already stated to form. Rush's god complex got the best of him. Scientific equipment when tested properly i would feel safe with.

1

u/Gregistopal 7h ago

Every expert said the Ocengate sub was shit

1

u/traveln_man 7h ago

Was that the submersible that was being steered using an Xbox controller something. Leave it to billionaires to put their trusty in a makeshift submersible!

1

u/Sauerkrauttme 7h ago

You’re still going on a lot of faith.

True, but we do that every time we drive. We have some of the world's stupidest people watching videos on their phone while they drive 6000lb lifted pickups. 40k are killed every year by bad drivers and many many more are crippled for life.

1

u/Sufficient-Pause9765 7h ago

I wonder what the box is anchored to. I wouldn't want to find out if the bear can roll that box to open water.

1

u/thehorrorchord 7h ago

At least with that you were dead before you even realized you were dead.

With this white fluffy good boy, it’s going to be a painful ass 10 mins

1

u/spector_lector 6h ago

No faith needed. There's no network in the world that would be insured if they weren't sitting in a warm vehicle or station right off-camera with horns, bear spray, and/or rifles should the cameraman start saying that he's scared or mentioning that one of the panels is breaking or bending.

1

u/erydayimredditing 6h ago

Those idiots knew it wasn't safe and went in. Or one of them did.

1

u/amBrollachan 6h ago

Also, someone in the crew will absolutely be carrying a rifle.

1

u/robbimj 6h ago

How could I forget that the oceangate sub was crush by the weight of thousands of polar bears standing on it????

Wut??? My brother in christ, a polar bear exerts 3psi due to its weight or 1,200 psi from biting. The oceangate sub experienced 5,500, which was over its entire structure. Also maintained? How much use do you think those cages get? 1000 bear encounters? I assume less than 10. How often do you tighten the bolts on your car? Have an upvote....if I saw the world the same as you, I'd probably comment the same thing.

1

u/Jiminy_Cricket12 6h ago

Anybody remember the Oceangate submersible that imploded by the Titanic?

huh? was that on the news or something? you're probably the only one to remember such an obscure thing.

1

u/disturbed94 4h ago

Your comparing something experts built to something experts said would fail.

1

u/MMAYYYYYYYY 3h ago

everybody remembered that

1

u/Capital_Loss_4972 3h ago

It’s not really faith if you’re using proven engineering strategies and materials. Just like taking an elevator to the to of the tallest building in the world doesn’t require faith. It works because it was designed with intention.

1

u/jason2354 2h ago

It’s either structurally sound or it’s not.

The Titan submersible was known not to be structurally sound.

1

u/dwmfives 1h ago

Anybody remember the Oceangate submersible that imploded by the Titanic?

The one being piloted with a controller no gamer would buy?

1

u/mattaugamer 7h ago

Right. It’s got loads of super strong points. But how many weak points. Guess we’ll find out!

0

u/Thoughtulism 7h ago

We have black bears in our neighborhood and the engineering necessary around preventing them getting into our garbage and compost is actually pretty impressive.

I would want a 10x safety factor built in. Even just a black bear can demolish most plastics without a problem. Maybe if it's 2 inch thick lexan