Needs to be capable of being folded up, trodden upon, thrown at the bottom of a pile, cylinders falling on it, covered in sand, salt, sea, wide temperature ranges (left in the sun, cold water)...
Which is why fins are made like they are.
Remind us what the benefits of designing a better wheel is?
My response isn't really directed at you, but rather at innovators in general. I like a lot of your posts, so hopefully this doesn't come across too harsh or personal. I just strongly disagree & seen a lot similar behavior patterns over the years, often in a much harsher form. This post illustrates what I described well. I've noticed a somewhat impulsive reaction to innovation, as if the inventor or artist is committing heresy.
I've been subjected to this style of critique many times, even as an artist. All of the "futuristic" artists in that space would make transparent bubble looking designs & I'd go a completely different route. My designs always got 20x the critique, and often vicious critique, while the 5000th futuristic-bubble-thing would get lots of praise.
(Somehow, I still don't see those transparent-bubble designs being produced 20 years later, despite lots of designers liking them). I won't assert my designs were good or bad, but they were a threat. That "threat" could be a threat to industry-dominance, or a threat to perceived knowledge of how the world is supposed to work.
I fully understand physics doesn't bend to wishful thinking. However assuming we have some perfect wheel which can't be improved upon, is perhaps what separates general society from the innovators. Human propulsion with modern fins is anything but efficient and easy whether you're looking at the fluid dynamics, or transferring power from our strongest muscles into propulsion. However, even if we take the "reinvent wheel" analogy, there are absolutely ways of innovating on the wheel, when thought of as more than just a circle. We're a long ways off from having a "perfect" tire. Suspension systems are constantly being changed and improved. Then there's more out-of-the-box considerations like pulleys, tracks, wings ... and perhaps at some future time teleportation or hover-technology.
If his fin made it to market, sure I'd probably be super-skeptical from a potential customer perspective. Even the force-fins which have a cult-following on SB, I've seen seemingly reasonable reviews harsh enough that I'd have to try the fins first-hand before even considering a purchase of a heavily-discounted used pair. Though if someone local offered to let me try them for 1-dive, I'd absolutely give them a fair shot.
My point here isn't to win any argument, I could care less about what 95% of the world thinks of innovation. Rather that inventors should never lose that "bug" to keep trying new things, and understand criticism like this comes with the territory.
edit:
On the flip-side, I occasionally see "futuristic" looking designs making wild claims, get a relatively undeserved amount of excess praise and cult-following, and then seemingly go nowhere or deliver unimpressive results. So I'm not downplaying skepticism of "innovative" products.
