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Ben, You forgot: 4) price, why buy an expensive computer (like the mix gas units) if I am doing fine without one? (Or buy two for redundacy...) Best, THOMAS > >From what I gather from the techdiver list it's mostly 1) you can't trust > computers, 2) they're too conservative and 3) you don't learn deco... you > just rely on the computer. > > Responses > 1) that's absurd... carry two/three/etc. computers if you don't trust the > battery. If you don't trust computers than you can't possibly trust the mix > you're breathing unless you have "Smillas sense of oxygen" :) > 2) too conservative: then why not put an algorithm that works in it? > someone, somewhere has a process that works for deco... George isn't > reinventing the wheel everytime he dives... he's using some sort of process. > It's not rocket science to put a process in a submersible computer. > 3) you don't learn: well - then you can use tables, etc and use the computer > as a backup... I learned fractal geometry in college -doesn't mean I still > do it by hand. It seems obvious that all dives are planned (well - I don't > sit up at night planning a 30 minute dive to 50 feet... but you get my > point). So you're still planning your dives on tables (or using software) > but you have the added safety of having a computer doing all the > calculations for you if you, for some reason, fuck up (the human brain is > relatively useless under massive levels of stress - i.e. panic kills). If > in panic it'd be better to have a computer telling you "move to 30 feet" > than a human brain telling you "ascend immediately... I'm fucking dying". > In an element where minutes mean hours in deco it seems that precision is > the best way to go - and nothing (especially the human brain) is as precise > as a computer when it comes to counting seconds. > > I've also heard some stuff on legal issues. Well - then make them > completely user programmable... you can't sue someone for shooting yourself > in the head (or at least those cases have a LOW success rate). > > George's comment that the best computer is between your ears is possibly > true for NO TIME limit situations. I completely agree... locked in a room > for hours/days on end with a library I could out think Deep Blue on chess... > but given 5 seconds... I'll loose every time (this is a hypothetical > example... I've never actually gone against Deep Blue). Unless you can do > this equation faster than the human brain can read there's an obvious place > for computers: 256*3/2+88^2*1.3=10451.2 > > I know that WKPP has used tables and achieved amazing results. But I > haven't heard a well thought out argument against computers yet (and I've > read the archives). Given all the shit that can happen during a dive I'd > think that having a computer tell you what to do (and what you've done) > would be a nice addition to life. If NASA can go to the moon in 69 (which > was really just the world's most complicated diving trip) then we can > probably learn to use the much newer computers diving. > > If you: > 1) Plan your dive > 2) Bring the gas you think you need for the dive > 3) Enter the gas you have on you for the dive into the computer > 4) Go diving > 5) Enter in parameters that are appropriate (fitness, temperature, etc.) > > Given that there's no reason why a computer couldn't come up with an active > dive plan that would be as good or better than the table version. > > Again. not trying to tell anyone how to do anything. But - if there's > something in the archives that covers this I couldn't find it. I'm just > curious as to why technology isn't DIR. > > -ben > > ps. BS/MS in computer science has probably skewed my thought process on > this. > > > ______________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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