I kind of feel like in the old days, people weren’t really afraid of heights. Heights were fairly new, and exciting, and the consequences of falling were not well understood yet. It’s why you would see skyscraper construction workers jumping around and sitting on beams to enjoy a casual lunch thousands of feet up, without a care in the world.

▲

fulafel 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

> Heights were fairly new, and exciting, and the consequences of falling were not well understood yet.

Indeed. Until Herbert Fall wrote his treatise about it in 1902 the entire concept was really absent from our collective imagination.

▲

tvier 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'm pretty sure people have been falling off things for a quite a while.

▲

mikestew 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

…the consequences of falling were not well understood yet

Eh? Cliffs, trees; fall off anything at 10 meters or higher, and your odds of dying are around 50%. I’m pretty sure folks were aware of the consequences long before Eiffel showed up.

▲

deadbabe 2 days ago | parent [-]

A guy literally jumped off the Eiffel Tower to test an early parachute, ignorant of what would happen if it failed.

	▲	davepdotorg 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The fact he was testing a parachute would suggest he was well aware of the consequences.
	▲	yencabulator 2 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Perhaps it was more that risk taking and dying young from various illnesses was a thing that happened around you a lot, so you were more accustomed to it and didn't expect to live to 80.
	▲	mikestew 2 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		...ignorant of what would happen if it failed. Then why was he testing a parachute in the first place? I think he had a better idea than you give him credit for.
	▲	qotgalaxy a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[dead]