Remind Me Again Why We Hounded Aaron Swartz (1986–2013) and Austen Heinz (1983–2015) to Death?

I’ve been reading in the area of synthetic biology (synth bio) and watching videos devoted to this subject on YouTube and elsewhere. My first exposure to Austen Heinz was actually the YouTube video which virtually everyone agrees started the downward spiral which eventuated in his suicide. It was the bad press surrounding this ten minute talk which led to repeated online mobbing and vilification of Heinz, which then led to his loss of investors, which then led to a major depression, which then led to his suicide. Here’s the actual video. Watch it and see if you think anything in here might make you wish the young startup founder an early death.

Here is a YouTube comment on this video:

Drive to Understand
11 months ago

At 8:31 are the comments that the noble truth warriors at Inc.com, Huffington Post, Salon, Buzzfeed, the Daily Mail and Business Insider misrepresented widely in such a way that it destroyed Heinz’s life and led directly to his suicide less than 6 months later.

At the beginning of the video, Heinz expresses surprise that he has been allotted ten minutes to speak. He had…