Scuba diving 100 years from now?

[kevindsingleton]

There is also nothing fundamentally good about Uber either. It's essentially people scratching for a living at the margins of a society which has learned to dispense with most employees in a world which leaves vanishingly few opportunities for self-employment beyond subsistence activity or criminal activity. Being an Uber driver might be a good way to pick up a few extra bucks, but will it support a family, provide a dependble stable income, or cover health care costs? I've been in third world countries where hordes of impoverished people compete for the opportunity to carry your luggage or perform some other menial service. That's all this barter economy really is, except that it exists in the slowly developing wreckage of wealthy societies than have little or no use for most people, people who pathetically expect that the new technology will somehow find a place for them when all indications are that it is doing the exact reverse. We live in interesting times, in the Confucian sense.

Well said. Uber is the handbasket that will carry us.

 

[Akimbo]

...
3) Commeinhes produced a wonderful bubble machine; double tanks ( could be replaced UW ) a faring around the tanks, SPG, large straps. He dove the unit to 174 feet in 1942 ...A year before JYC "invented " the Aqua Lung.

The world would probably be diving the Commeinhes unit if it had not been for his loyalty to his country and he was KIA in 1944, while JYC was basking in the sun in southern France . Never the ,less the French Navy used the Commeinhes units until 1956...

Do you really think Commeinhes' unit would have been successful? It had crazy-huge dead air space using a very long single corrugated hose and the regulator housing was the size of a lunch box. Early double hose divers thought they had a CO2 buildup problem before non-returns were added to the mouthpiece. Think how Commeinhes' unit would perform!

Aside from being a better design (but still crap by today's standards), the Gagnon/Cousteau "Aqualung" had the financial and manufacturing resources of Air Liquide behind it. Add the PR advantage of Cousteau's films and it would be a pretty formidable combination to compete against.

Funny how things turn out. Dräger could have easily been in the same positon as Air Liquide if they had a spark-plug like Cousteau to shepherd their capabilities and patent portfolio... and the timing of the developments not overlapped WWII.

This reminds me of some interesting conversations I have had. The question was asked why demand regulators for diving were not developed in the US. IMHO water temperature off most of the US coast was too low, same in the UK. That in turn precluded the motivation to develop one. I have long been of the opinion that the demand regulator wasn't the key innovation, the wetsuit was.

 

[Neilwood]

Living in Florida, I expect that rising sea levels will mean I have to use scuba to get to and from my work.

Given the amount of sinkholes that seem to be reported in Florida, it might be sooner than you think!

 

[bowlofpetunias]

My family in Northern British Colombia will be in the tropics or Igloo's Perhaps we will be diving in that water they found on Mars?

I guess I am not really optomistic about what will be going on in 100 years. I suspect scuba is likely to be engaged in by an even lower percentage of mankind than now.

 

[Neilwood]

My family in Northern British Colombia will be in the tropics or Igloo's Perhaps we will be diving in that water they found on Mars?

I guess I am not really optomistic about what will be going on in 100 years. I suspect scuba is likely to be engaged in by an even lower percentage of mankind than now.

I think a lot depends on how technology moves in the future - if someone can figure out how to shrink/lighten the equipment required or make rebreathers safer and easier to use, more people will join us in the water. If tech stays the same, I agree a lot of people will not go diving (people seem to be increasingly reluctant to engage in physical activity particularly when that involves expense)

 

[RJP]

people seem to be increasingly reluctant to engage in physical activity particularly when that involves expense)

I can only speak for the US, but I think you might be 180deg out of phase.

Skiing has has record years in terms of gear sales, accessory sales, number of participants, and number of participant days over the past few years. In fact skiing's best year ever was the same as diving's low point over the last twenty years.

Similarly, cycling has rebounded in the past few years... particularly in the higher-end road and mountain segments.

Paddle sports is growing.

Even golf is making a bit of a comeback.

I actually think that part of the issue for diving is that people are TOO willing to participate in physical activities that are expensive... to the point of distraction. Cycling this weekend, SUP next weekend, training for a triathlon, kid's travel soccer tournament weekend after that, camping, climbing, hiking, trail running, etc.

REI - a very high-end outdoor sports chain in the US - is continuing to expand into new markets as each year is a new record for sales.

Many people - who were, or could have been divers - simply don't have time to dive because they are doing too many other expensive physical activities.

The innovation that the scuba industry requires needs to start with a better understanding of the audience's wants, needs, desires, and barriers.

 

[Neilwood]

I can only speak for the US, but I think you might be 180deg out of phase.

Skiing has has record years in terms of gear sales, accessory sales, number of participants, and number of participant days over the past few years. In fact skiing's best year ever was the same as diving's low point over the last twenty years.

Similarly, cycling has rebounded in the past few years... particularly in the higher-end road and mountain segments.

Paddle sports is growing.

Even golf is making a bit of a comeback.

I actually think that part of the issue for diving is that people are TOO willing to participate in physical activities that are expensive... to the point of distraction. Cycling this weekend, SUP next weekend, training for a triathlon, kid's travel soccer tournament weekend after that, camping, climbing, hiking, trail running, etc.

REI - a very high-end outdoor sports chain in the US - is continuing to expand into new markets as each year is a new record for sales.

Many people - who were, or could have been divers - simply don't have time to dive because they are doing too many other expensive physical activities.

The innovation that the scuba industry requires needs to start with a better understanding of the audience's wants, needs, desires, and barriers.

There are the sporting/healthy minorities in every country but obesity is still on the rise in most countries in the developed world link

There is also the relative cost of scuba both in time (time in water/time preparing) and financial (the gear is pretty expensive compared to a lot of other sports)