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?
Not sure about a name, but:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventors_killed_by_their_own_invention
Weird seeing Stockton Rush on there when most of the other inventors are pre-20th century.
Shame there aren’t pictures. A lot of these sound pretty cool.
There’s the phrase “Hoist by their own petard” but not sure if that’s specific enough to inventions, probably not.
I really hope there’s a single word for it out there… more convenient yanno.
There’s probably a long and complex German word for it :-)
Hubris. Irony.
Also not sure about a name, but in Greek mythology, there’s Daedalus. He built a massive maze, which was then used against him to imprison him & his son. Daedalus crafted wings out of feathers & beeswax to escape the island of Crete, but his son Icarus flew too close to the sun. Melting the wax, destroying the wings, and drowning in the sea.
deleted by creator
I think Frankensteinian would work based off second definition of Frankenstein from m-w dot com.
2: a monstrous creation especially : a work or agency that ruins its originator
Frankensteinian is the adjective form.
This.
[joke]
Pulling a Doofenshmirtz?
Skill issue
I’ve been saying this one a lot lately 😂
I want it to be called a Midgley
Choking on dog food?
I call it “Pulling a Midgely”
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.
Step on your own dick.
Ha. Lol.
Frankensteining
The Frankenstein Effect I believe, though that can also be used to describe a human extinction event caused by an invention of some kind.
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.
Hmm…
I guess “outvention” works well, because… “out” is the opposite of “in”, which is in “invention”.