Packhorse:
Do I believe the bible? No, I have never read it so how could I believe it. Do I believe Einstein? What work of his I understand I assume is correct. My physician? same again. Dr's have been know to be wrong so has Einstein. So are you saying I should have believed this guy? Are you saying I should believe you without researching it further or to gain more infomation? Have you never been wrong? Is everything on SB true?
What was he selling? First time he said it he was selling air. Last time he was commenting on some rust in a steel tank.
Im glad you were helpfull too, and Im sure many of your other posts have been and will continue to be helpfull but expecting everyone to have 100% faith that they are 100% correct and complete without question is a bit much.
OK, I was teasing a little. When entering this SB one will encounter the same human foibles which haunt the dive shop. There are plenty of people here who will want to sell you something. There are others who are more than eager to pass on the urban legends which haunt the dive community and serve directly or indirectly the commerce of diving but not, necessarily, the diver. There is also available here, and elsewhere, a good resource of knowledgable divers. Unfortunately, some do not have the time, the nerve, or the concern which would allow them to contribute on a regular basis. Those that can offer reliable information may be hard to identify at first but over time they are identifiable. These contributors are at their best when dealing with their specialty or main interest and one will see this in the course of things.
The point about sources such as Einstein is this: there are many things in our community which are accepted as fact without verification. It is "presumed" truth. How many people who believe in special relativity can explain it? Not me, but I can point to empirical observations and experiments which tend to verify his mathematical constructions. For example, extremely accurate clocks on our GPS satellites exhibit slower time than a clock located on Earth and compensation for relativity is required. As you say, not everything can be verfied satisfactorily and much is taken on faith. The question arises as to why you chose to dispute with one particular "authority", the dive shop guy. You say," because it didn't make sense.
With its persistant mythology, the diving world may assume some aspects of religion. This may occur because of gaps in diving text books, word or mouth, or errors in the curriculum, or because of deliberate acts. This tends to make diving scary. Also, the growth of a priest class of certifying organizations may lead to conflicts of philosophy as well as fact. Thus, in the midst of uncertainty we see the emergence of cult phenomena, scientology-like schemes which say "do it our way or die". The non believers are regarded as infidels and publicly named as such. What happened to you is less dramatic but a fairly good example. Friar Tuck condemned you as a sinner. This time, you rebelled because you knew that musn't be true. I mean, who wants to go to h*ll? Using your admittedly good logic to look for flaws in his theology you came up with a plausible rationale but needed a blessing--from us. Lucky for you.
