drrich2
Contributor
A ScubaBoard Staff Message...
A ScubaBoard Staff Message...
All other things being equal, yes, metric would be easier to work with. For people raised up using it from early childhood, and using it regularly in every day life, it would be.
But in the U.S., most of us aren't that. If you say something is 30 km away, I'd think 'Okay, a km is about 0.6 miles, 30 x 0.6 = 18 miles. If you say you weigh 100 kg, I'll say 1 kg = 2.2 lbs, so you're around 220 lbs. That lack of fluid instinctive familiarity, coupled with the fact most of us find Imperial quite serviceable for our actual diving usage, has opposed greater metric penetration.
And a lot of people don't quickly gain familiarity. I've used metric extensively back in college in science classes. Was taught metric back in grade school if memory serves. Despite all that, I think intuitively think in Imperial. Metric will probably always be my '2nd language' of measurement out in the 'real world.'
Except at work, where medication dosage is in mg.
Often pushing metric for U.S. scuba divers is like the repetitive threads pushing DIN over Yoke connections; it's a better solution for something most of us aren't having much of a problem with.
Richard.
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