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Tom Lehrer - Wernher von Braun - with intro - widescreen

The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel · 363.3K views · 2008-12-01 · 2:23

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Overview

Tom Lehrer performs his satirical song about rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, with an introduction. It is a two-minute musical clip.

On Hacker News

HN quotes it in discussions of engineers' moral responsibility and recommends it as a favorite of Lehrer's witty songs.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2016–2020

Topics

Music performance & songsSatire & parody
Search by tags
tom lehrerwernher von braunsatireengineering ethicsrocketry

What people said

Diederich · 2020-10 · Recommendation

For those who haven't watched any of his material, please click here to see the above performed: [VIDEO] He is amazingly talented across many different axes.

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dbg31415 · 2018-04 · Recommendation

It's been a consistent of my life, every good friend I've had already knows all the words to all the Tom Lehrer songs. And enjoys singing them while drunk. My parents... who are only slightly younger than Tom Lehrer... think he speaks too fast, think he's too disrespectful, or just don't get the humor. I get that he was successful -- but I think classic example of someone born a little too soon. Anyway, if someone could put Tom Lehrer and Stephen Colbert together for an interview I'd be pretty happy. === Good atricle from 2000. * 'When Kissinger won the Nobel peace prize, satire died' | Global | The Guardian || [LINK] === Some of my favorite songs... but you can't go wrong, and they're all on YouTube. * Tom Lehrer: Smut (concert live) (1965) - YouTube || [LINK] * Tom Lehrer: Alma (concert live) (1965) - YouTube || [LINK] * Tom Lehrer - Wernher von Braun - with intro - widescreen - YouTube || [VIDEO]

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lmitchell · 2017-05 · Reference

'Once the rockets go up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department! says Wernher Von Braun.' [VIDEO] I really really really strongly disagree with this. As the ones who are most knowledgable about the systems they're building, I definitely think engineers have a moral responsibility to make sure they're at the very least following applicable laws and regulations - I would argue that we have a moral responsibility to act ethically even in cases where it's not covered by laws or regulations, but I'll admit that's a bit more controversial.

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Sources

Video by The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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