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probably_wrong • today at 2:03 PM • 1 reply • view on HN

Leaving aside for a second that this post is clearly an ad.

There are reasons why you can't just say "here's a new wheelchair, have fun suckers!" and that's because a medical device is major part of someone's life and disruptions that would annoy healthy people can be life threatening to them. Worst case scenario you end up in a Second-Sight situation [1].

Let's take a random example: the page says "If you're heading down a steep slope, the powered wheels ease the descent". When the brakes of my bike suddenly stopped working on a steep slope I could just throw myself to the side and brake with my legs. If you're a using this "mobility device" as a wheelchair and this happens to you well, tough luck. You should have bought a wheelchair instead.

Do not "move fast and break things" when the things are actually people.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30349871


Replies

locknitpicker • today at 2:38 PM

> There are reasons why you can't just say "here's a new wheelchair, have fun suckers!" and that's because a medical device is major part of someone's life and disruptions that would annoy healthy people can be life threatening to them. Worst case scenario you end up in a Second-Sight situation [1].

Exactly. All this simplistic and puerile "regulation is bad" talk is a clear tell of how any anti-regulatory talk is rooted in ignorance and bad faith, and is mainly driven by mindless ideological fundamentalism.