From my perspective as a retired professional pilot, diving is really no different than other hazardous occupations and hobbies. Those of us that have spent a lifetime participating in hazardous activities know that very few people that are very good in their high risk profession/hobby are "adrenaline junkies". Most frequent and skilled participants in high risk activities are typically people that love what they do, take as many precautions as reasonably possible, have a very good understanding of their capabilities and equipment, and try to operate in the fat part of the operating envelope as much as possible. Sometimes we have to press the envelope to fully understand the real limits of the envelope, but it is generally not done without thought and belief that we are capable of recovering from unknown problems that might pop up. Most of the time we are correct in our assessment of our capabilities verses the environment, but sometimes we are wrong and or unlucky--then we get hurt or die. That is the price we all pay for getting out of bed in the morning. We can always mitigate that risk by not participating in the (fill in the blank) activity, but then we would have missed out on all of the things that made us love the profession or hobby. For me, that is not an acceptable way to live.
