Attendees at Bored Ape NFT event report vision loss and extreme pain

LesserAbe@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 328 points –
theverge.com

It's likely because some light fixtures that emit a ton of UV light also look "cool" and get used in the wrong setting. They're supposed to be for stuff like disinfection. Looks like the bulbs outlining the dj both could be the issue. It wouldn't be any of the professional fixtures. (Pic in comments because I don't think you can upload an image in this community for the main post)

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this is the most simpsons-ass headline i've seen in a while

How about: “UV exposure causes eye injury and sunburn for Bored Ape NFT enthusiasts”

I hope they weren't blasting UVC disinfectant lights directly at the audience. That would not be great for their health

I remember someone raising a similar idea before:

https://youtu.be/vfLZOkn0chc

They were, IIRC the company in charge of lighting confused blacklights with UV lights

If you go to a bored ape fest, you deserve it.

This is one of the most nottheonion headlines I’ve ever seen.

Reminds me of that part in The Expanse where they irradiate everyone on the station to activate the protomolecule.

So, watch out for that.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Several people have reported experiencing eye pain, vision problems, and sunburnt skin on Sunday after attending ApeFest, a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection event in Hong Kong that ran from November 3rd-5th.

Some ApeFest attendees posted on X (formerly Twitter) after seeking medical attention, with one person reporting that they had been diagnosed with Photokeratitis — aka, “welder’s eye,” a condition caused by unprotected exposure to ultraviolet radiation — and another saying the issue was a result of UV from the stage lights, leading to speculation that the injuries were caused by improper lighting used at the event.

Yuga Labs, the blockchain company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT project, says it’s aware of the situation and taking the reports seriously.

“We are actively reaching out and in touch with those affected to better understand the root cause,” said Yuga Labs spokesperson Emily Kitts in a statement to The Verge.

Similar symptoms, which include sunburn and waking up to severe, burning eye pain, were reported in 2017 by partygoers who attended a Hypebeast event at The Landmark commercial complex also in Hong Kong, with the event’s DJ later discovering lighting used mainly for disinfection purposes had been installed at the venue.

The Landmark venue did not feature on the ApeFest event plan, and the two incidents appear unrelated.

The original article contains 301 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 27%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Reminds me of the Havana Syndrome event at the US and Canada Embassies in Cuba. In 2017 several people who worked there reported feeling strange symptoms from ringing ears to nausea to cognitive dysfunction. Despite several years of research and study no cause was ever found. It was also determined that it could not be caused by a yet-to-be-known weapon by a US adversary. Despite this, the Pentagon still has conducted research in the effects of long-term exposure to RF waves in animals to see if they could make the symptoms of Havana Syndrome manifest.

Except the difference here is that these are idiots who very clearly exposed themselves to UV radiation.

Havana Syndrome still effects U.S. navy personnel fairly regularly. My Dad even thought he had it for a while. I think it more related to people being at sea for sometimes a month or more without landing.

Maybe they can refer some of the crew to the MAGA events, you know, so they get cool lights 'n'Stuff?

So they pulled a "The Artist is Present" without knowing it.

Nice.

Did Marina Abramović hurt her eyes in that show?

She used very low power UV lamps to evoke the emotional responses she got from folks. But they were only directed at the participant.

People that like to fuck around tend to find out I guess...?

Attendees may be dumb for falling for the NFT scam, but causing vision loss due to negligence was completely avoidable and event management should be held responsible. The attendees did nothing wrong to deserve that

Yea I honestly can't believe people who think of themselves as decent would delight like this in the suffering of others? You realize voicing opinions like this takes you right out of the 'right side of the argument' and outs you as a pretty much an awful person? Do better, people.

People that are negligent with their finances are more likely to be negligent when it comes to the quality of event coordinators they choose to work with. Because we're talking a pretty extreme degree of negligent personality to get sucked up into all the NFT hype.

My guess is this wasn't directly on the event coordinator. I work in professional AV, and all the normal lighting fixtures aren't going to be an issue. It would be something custom created, some kind of one off (otherwise you'd hear about this happening all the time). My guess is they hired a DJ who provided their own booth set, or the AV company hired a fabrication company to build something for the set (like maybe the blue strips on the front of the stage) or the DJ area. It's also possible some other "experiential" element like a sponsor booth was the issue.

True, but these are people who think deregulation is awesome. So really, this is just the natural result of their beliefs being applied. The solution is, according to them, to simply not hire these people again and letting the free market solve it.

Regardless of who specifically is at fault, they clearly should not have been hired to perform the job that someone paid them to do, right? That was probably pretty dumb...?

I'm just not surprised, that's all.

No argument about NFTs/bored ape being dumb. And it wouldn't be getting traction as a story of that wasn't part of it, because people like a story where someone gets their just rewards. Certainly someone was negligent here, just having been in events for a long time there are multiple layers of contractors and places where stuff can get screwed up. Could happen to an upright event organizer as well as crypto grifters.

If you go to a bored ape fest, you deserve it.

+49 upboobs at the time of writing

this comment I'm commenting under

-6 karmadoots

Epic

tbf, the post was tech-sub-appropriate, and many people up/downvote on that alone when it comes to whole posts. Me included, it's just a really solid system, if a little counter-intuitive. Comments are different though. It's more just like/dislike with comments.

Both of them are/were comments under this thread. The first I think was removed after a quick check