Is there a name for this specific concept? Where somebody invents something (to do them good) but then that thing turns around and backfires on them?
Hmm…
I guess “outvention” works well, because… “out” is the opposite of “in”, which is in “invention”.
A “Thomas Midgley Jr.”
Alfred Nobel might be considered a runner up, but I feel he recovered his reputation. That and I don’t think anyone but himself really was upset with the path his invention took.
I know you wanted a word, but I nominate “Midgley” to be the new word for that. “To midgley something” is to attempt to create something of value that instead only makes things worse. It’s an improvement in the negative direction.
I don’t know of a single word. How about some phrases?
Choked on your dinner. Shoot yourself in the foot. Cut off your nose to spite your face. Dig your own grave. Sign your own death warrant.
A name for this?
Isn’t it ironic, dontcha think?
It would only be ironic if it were a lifesaving device, for instance, if the creator of the defibrillator went into cardiac arrest by an accidental misfiring of the defibrillator on him.
Irony requires a reasonable expectation of an opposite outcome.
A solar eclipse happening on a cloudy day is not ironic, it’s merely unfortunate. A song about things claiming to be ironic actually containing nothing that will qualify as ironic is ironic.
If the inventor was known to be hubristic and reckless, it could be poetic justice. Otherwise, I think ironic is the best descriptor.
Btw, here’s a historical example of this happening.
