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Hi Art, > One thing really bothers me about all these discussions is that they are all > a LARGE series of ONE in the scientific research. The world is too full of > anicdotal evidence (like the silicone suits) and we really need a study. I guess you missed the earlier thread on anecdotal vs. "scientific" sources of information. The problem is not that there is too much anecdotal evidence; the problem is that there is not enough "scientific" data to answer all the questions (when you get right down to it, there probably never will be). Careful scientific inquiry requires time and $$$. Unfortunately, many of us are conducting diving practices that go well beyond what has been explored by scientific inqury. We're left with the choices of: 1) Not doing such dives. 2) Doing such dives with blinders on (ignoring anecdotal evidence) 3) Doing such dives using what we've learned from gleaning as much information from as many different sources as possible. If we were smart, we'd choose to got with #1. Unfortunately, we are not smart (self-evident), so most of us choose to go with #3. The problem, as I am sure you are aware, is that anecdotal information can be VERY misleading to the people who are REALLY not smart (the ones who tend to go with #2). Interpreting anecdotal evidence in a way that leads to a higher rate of correct predictions takes an enormous amount of experience. > The placebo effect is VERY strong and if somebody tells me this mix will > make me feel better, it will in many cases even if it does nothing. Hell, > I'm sure I'd be tired after just hauling equipment, suiting up, the > adrenilin rush from the anticipated fun, and doing it again without > breathing more than .79atm of N2. Many Variables, and not enough facts. Depends on how you define "fact", I guess. I guess my point is that we all wish we could derive answers only from the careful, tedious, controlled experimentation that people who call themselves scientists (I am one) do in the course of their endeavors. Unfortunately, it just hasn't all been answered in that fashion yet (and probably never will). The anecdotes are important not only because they can sometimes fill (at least partially) a gap in the body of scientific evidence, but also because they help focus our scientific efforts in the directions that seem to be most promising. > PS somewhere in this thread someone claimed to have been in a chamber to > 220 ft on pure O2 and he still posted a note here. Maybe I really can take > my computer with me when I meet the maker. Anti-oxident vitamins > really work! Ummm.... yup, that would be me. While being treated for serious DCS when I was 19, I was given the BIBS connected to the wrong gas supply during a 220' spike, and breathed pure O2 for about 1 or 2 minutes. No convulsion, no ill effects -- I didn't even notice anything strange because the narcosis level was about equivalent to what it would have been on air. I would have gone on breathing it, except the chamber operator asked the tender who was inside with me to verify the correct mix. We didn't even need the intercom - the yelling and screaming and explicatives outside (during the aftermath) were so loud they came right through the chamber walls. By the way, the view from up here in heaven is great -- and we don't need scientific or anecdotal information, because we're omniscient (or, as Homer Simpson said, "omnivorous"). The only drag is we haven't installed our fiber-optic email connection yet, so data transfer, even on our 28.8 bps modems, can be slow. ;-) Aloha, Rich
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