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Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 21:08:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: Roderick Farb <rfarb@em*.un*.ed*>
To: DeepTek@ao*.co*
Cc: techdiver@terra.net
Subject: Re: IQ and Narcosis
I completely disagree. After over 50 dives to the Monitor at 235 on air, 
I can tell you this about narcosis and moi. One year, I  had a range of 
experiences from "unaffected" to "completely stupid" on different dives. 
On day one of ten days of diving I experienced the greatest narcosis. I 
became less affected by narcosis on suceeding days. By day three there 
is hardly any noticable effect of N2. Days 4,5,6 ditto day 3. On day 7 I 
became  completely stupid. Days 8,9,10 unaffected. Different effects on 
different days, same dive, same air, IQ=49. Other years follow the same 
general pattern. Sometimes I notice a lot other times I don't. Banning 
diving to people with low IQs would wipe out the industry as we know it 
today. Then there would be only diving via techdiver lists, etc. like some do 
today. 

On Mon, 5 Jun 1995 DeepTek@ao*.co* wrote:

> While at the recent NSS-CDS workshop in Branford, a research scientist
> presented a rather unusual argument to me. On one level his theory seems to
> make sense. The implications of his theory are......well you'll see. I simply
> offer the theory up for comment without taking sides...yet.
> 
> His theory goes something like this: N2 narcosis affects everyone at every
> depth to some degree. At shallow depths (<70ft) the effect is negligible
> among most divers and we barely notice it. As the dives get deeper (>150) we
> become noticably affected by the increased ppN2.
> 
> [So far pretty standard stuff, everyone knows this. Here's where it gets
> interesting]
> 
> We are not all affected the same amount, however. Persons with a high IQ are
> affected less than persons with a low IQ. Divers with IQs in the 130-160+
> range have greater cognitive assets and posess the ability to mentally "get a
> grip" on the situation and think through the narcosis. Divers with more
> average IQs (90-120) cannot make this leap and simply become impaired. He was
> not suggesting that divers with high IQs do not become impaired, but rather
> that they have the ability to, at least partially, compensate for the
> impairment. An analogy he used was a computer that, having discovered some
> damaged circuits, simply re-routes the signals through other functional
> circuits.   --End of Theory
> 
> My experience in deeper dives is that some persons do indeed seem to just get
> stupid. While others are, at least outwardly, able to handle it with better
> focus. 
> 
> The implications seem to be that if this is indeed true, or even partially,
> an IQ test should be administered to anyone desiring to take one of the "deep
> air" courses. A score of 130 or better gets you in while persons of lesser
> mental ability have their c-cards stamped "DO NOT EXCEED 130 FEET."
> 
> Any takers? This is a serious post!
> 
> Win Remley
> Co-Publisher, DeepTech Journal
> deeptek@ao*.co*
> --
> Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@terra.net'.
> Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@terra.net'.
> 

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