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Bonis,
I think the general population of divers may not care about it now, but now
that the money machine that is PADI has gotten into tech, lots more are
going to care. Hell, even if they don't care, they should. Now you are
going to have people following computers and the calculated deco schedules.
They'll end up doing 4 dives a day, all requiring minor decompression, then
they'll get bent. I think that from a legal standpoint PADI and the other
agencies are going to have to teach the students about deco theory. If all
they tell them is to go down, don't come up till your computer tells you to
and you'll be OK, then they are going to get sued. PADI and others will at
a minimum have to cover some deco theory just to cover their asses in a
court of law. That way they can do what they do today and say, "we taught
them this and they did that so it's there fault not ours...." Don't kid
yourself into thinking that the general population is not going to know
anything about decompression theory in the next 5-10 years or so. Look at
NITROX! 10 years ago it's voodoo gas and now PADI has everyone thinking
it's the best thing since sliced bread! If there is money to be made, PADI
will find a way. I think the next logical money maker for them is PADI tech
which has to include decompression and stuff. They'll do like they did with
NITROX, educate people, and come up with a simple approach and teach/charge
the hell out of it. There are plenty of people out there that all they like
to do is stay in courses and take classes. That's how you get instructors
teaching after a year of getting certified themselves. PADI's a money
making machine! I'd go as far as to say that with 10 years you'll have PADI
teaching Trimix below 130 foot! PADI is great at getting students to take
more and more courses. They push you to either go until Dive Master or get
that stupid "Master Scuba Diver" certification, that one really cracks me
up! :)
Art.
-----Original Message-----
From: Duane Liptak Jr. [mailto:d.liptak.jr@wo*.at*.ne*]
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 9:36 AM
To: techdiver@aquanaut.com
Subject: Gadgets and Grandma's car, WAS Re: O2 Sensors on tanks
Mr. Bonis,
Just a few thoughts, and some clarifications on my positions:
you wrote-
> "The vast majority of divers
>(and that means virtually the entire diving population except the extremely
>small technical and commercial portion) don't give a hoot about deco theory
>and never will. They just want to go down 60 ft., look at pretty fish and
>take pictures on their once a year trip to Cozumel."
Well, perhaps I'm being unrealistic in imagining an educated general diving
population. Hell, Brett Gilliam wrote an article in Rodale's about
decompression diving in which, if I recall correctly, he recommends just
overstaying your computer's NDL, and letting the computer figure out your
profile. I do believe, however, that even the "60 foot look-at -fishies"
crowd would be better off with a little more knowledge, but now we're going
to be getting into the profit motive of the dive industry at large, and I
really don't want to bother going there.
you wrote-
>"Also, you need to realize that advances in technology (like computers and
other such things) may be extremely beneficial. <<snip>> If you really
believed this, then I would expect
to see you diving with a horsecollar (or no BC at all), double hose
regulator, large oval single lens mask and a J-valve (because you didn't
trust SPGs and after all you should have been keeping track of your gas
usage
>constantly.) Starting to get the idea?"
You're getting too far into the weeds. I never said that technological
advances were bad. I said gadgets were bad. My definition of a gadget is
anything that offers "an ingenious slolution to a non-existent problem" or
attempts to replace improtant cognitive decisions or technique with a
gimmick. Cobra guards are gadgets, bungie wings are gadgets, computers are
gadgets...proper backplates and wings are not gadgets. SPG's provide an
accurate representation of the remaining gas in your tanks, which serves a
real need. An EE Pro 14 beats the hell out of a ray-o-vac 2 "D" cell light
in a baggie. The SPG doesn't tell anyone when to turn or drop a bottle--
The diver has to make that decision. The Pro 14 doesn't come with a head
mount so one can fumble around with both hands, but not be able to signal
properly without looking like a drunk--The diver has to learn to do things
with the goodman handle in his/her hand. Are YOU starting to get the idea?
and you wrote-
>"Nitrox computers are here to
>stay for sport diving and I for one think they are extremely helpful in
this
>area. If you'd like to debate this premise, I'll be glad to do so. But
you
>are heading for a big loss."
Y'know what? You're probably right. Computers are most likely here to
stay. So are split fins with ski bindings, BC's with 395 D-rings and
pockets the size of carry-on luggage, nitrox regulators, gauge retractors,
and those funny little red blinky knobs that go on yoke regulators. Just
because a bunch of carpet baggers who have managed to drag themselves up
from the shallow stagnant end of the gene pool want to continue to sell and
promote this crap doesn't mean that anyone should be championing their
stupidity.
As far as debate goes, I really don't want to engage in one. This has
taken up enough time and bandwidth already. The winner of any debate on
this list really won't have much impact on the topic at hand, anyway. How
many rec divers actually read it? As far as heading for a big loss goes,
the only ones headed for a big loss are the folks out there who are missing
the point and keep insisting on the dive gear and practices that, as
mentioned previously, are the mental equivalent of poking kitchen appliances
with silverware.
'nuff said.
Duane
S/F
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