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/sci/ - Science & Math

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1770713 No.1770713 [Reply] [Original]

What do you think we'll find? No pop culture references or lol cthulu, serious speculation welcome though.

The coelacanth was thought extinct until dredged up in 1998. (the earliest sighting was 1938 but there was controversy as to its credibility until the '98 discovery).

The collossal squid was more or less within the domain of cryptozoology until we actually started pulling them out of the water.

In either case we had to recover them from boats. We're just skimming the surface. Tip of the iceberg stuff. Ever heard of the Bloop? Of course you have. Loud, low frequency noise of the sort characteristic of life, reverberating through the ocean every so often. We still don't know what it is mainly because we don't have observation posts in the sea. Cameras are great, sensors are great but putting scientists down there with teams of divers who can bring back specimens to be examined *alive* at the pressure to which they are adapted would advance our rate of oceanic discovery a millionfold.

Just think of the shit we'd find. Stuff considered science fiction (or horror) right now. Stuff that, if they told us existed, we'd laugh at them for it. We spend so much sending men to dead worlds looking for even a microbe when there are more undiscovered species lurking in the ocean than there are stars in the sky. Although NASA does deserve more funding, if Oceanic exploration (and manned colonization) received even a fraction of that funding, we cannot image the amazing stuff we'd discover as a result.

>> No.1770729 [DELETED] 

Even exploration of the daylight zone would be valuable. Having the Aquarius reef base on site to monitor the oil spill has provided us with honest data about it's impact on coral reefs that BP sure as hell wouldn't have disclosed. A series of habitats monitoring the ocean at key points worldwide would offer immediate on site analysis of ocean water composition, signs of algae blooming, change in Ph and so on.

Besides, just look at that. It's a vast, beautiful, alien landscape waiting to be explored and we're ignoring it because you don't need a rocket to get there, and for some reason that makes it less exciting to the taxpayer.

>> No.1770731
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1770731

Even exploration of the daylight zone would be valuable. Having the Aquarius reef base on site to monitor the oil spill has provided us with honest data about it's impact on coral reefs that BP sure as hell wouldn't have disclosed. A series of habitats monitoring the ocean at key points worldwide would offer immediate on site analysis of ocean water composition, signs of algae blooming, change in Ph and so on.

Besides, just look at that. It's a vast, beautiful, alien landscape waiting to be explored and we're ignoring it because you don't need a rocket to get there, and for some reason that makes it less exciting to the taxpayer.

>> No.1770736

is this what your Marine Biology 101 prof told you?

>> No.1770739

>>1770736

No? I'm 26, I've been out of college for some time now. Just passionate about the ocean.

>> No.1770744

Scientific and cultural achievements are an extension of a thriving society...does the US look thriving to you? Does any place on the planet seem to be in a Golden Age? No? Then I suppose the current world system has to be changed before any sustained progress will occur :)

>> No.1770753

>>1770744

>>Scientific and cultural achievements are an extension of a thriving society...does the US look thriving to you? Does any place on the planet seem to be in a Golden Age? No? Then I suppose the current world system has to be changed before any sustained progress will occur :)

How do you get to such a golden age? They don't just spontaneously happen. A solid economic standing results in large part from scientific progress and technological innovation, which results from earnest exploration and experimentation.

So how do you do that while in a recession? Find cheaper ways to push into new frontiers that offer a larger return, and sooner. Such as exploring the ocean before we resume the exploration of space.

>> No.1770757

>Ever heard of the Bloop?

I want to find this creature. Lets build an underwater dome, filled with seamen. This dome can be used to explore every crevice in the ocean floor, untill the secrets of the sea burst forth into our knowledge.

>> No.1770761

>>1770757

>>seamen
>>crevice
>>burst

Lol

>> No.1770763
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1770763

The sea... vast, mysterious... and full of wealth! And the nations of Planet send their trade across it without a thought. Well, the sea doesn't care about them, so it let's them pass. But we can give the sea a little hand in teaching the landlubbers a lesson in humility.

>> No.1770778 [DELETED] 

>>1770763
>>Pop culture reference

>>1770713
No pop culture references or lol cthulu, serious speculation welcome though.

>> No.1770780

>>1770763
>>Pop culture reference

>>1770713
>>No pop culture references or lol cthulu, serious speculation welcome though.

>> No.1770820

Fund it.

>> No.1770834
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1770834

>> No.1770906

90% of the ocean remains unexplored. We have topographical maps thanks to satellites but no idea what actually resides there.

Great discoveries are made not because we planned to, but because the people we sent for some other reasons were there to notice something unusual and investigate. There is no robot we could send to explore the ocean that would be as effective, up to a certain depth, as a human diver.

>> No.1770991

Space is always gonna capture more peoples imaginations even if the ocean has better stuff in it in the short term. It's in our nature to want to go up, to fly, to see what is beyond our reach. Going into the ocean feels like going backwards, that's where we came from after all.

>> No.1771003

>>1770713 the amazing stuff we'd discover as a result.

But that's exactly why space exploration is supperior. If we find some incredible new deep-ocean species it will only make headlines for a day because we already know incredible undiscovered ocean species exist.

If life exists on other worlds is a completely unknown question. Answering it could effect our society deeply.

>> No.1771014

>Ever heard of the Bloop? Of course you have. Loud, low frequency noise of the sort characteristic of life, reverberating through the ocean every so often
>Every so often

No. The Bloop was heard once. Just one time. In 1997.

>> No.1771059

>>1771014
whale farts
shit bricks for 13 years

>> No.1771309
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1771309

>>1770906
>We have topographical maps thanks to satellites
first off, the bathymetry produced by satellite mapping is EXTREMELY low resolution and reads surface sea topography (which is a proxy for seafloor bathymetry)

>made not because we planned to, but because the people we sent for some other reasons were there to notice something unusual and investigate
is ANY discovery ever planned? your argument makes no sense here.

>There is no robot we could send to explore the ocean that would be as effective, up to a certain depth, as a human diver.
while AUVs are great tools for hi-res mapping of the seafloor, here I agree completely. we cannot replace the human aspect of seafloor exploration. that's why the Alvin is getting upgraded next year.

pic related....my view from Alvin last year on the Juan de Fuca ridge flank.

>> No.1771317
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1771317

>We spend so much sending men to dead worlds looking for even a microbe when there are more undiscovered species lurking in the ocean than there are stars in the sky.
Pffff-bahahahahaha

>> No.1772294

>>1771317

>>doesn't understand what a metaphor is

>> No.1772345
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1772345

>>1772294
>Implying making a batshit, flat out wrong statement on a Science board isn't going to get you called out

>> No.1772363

>>1772345

>>Implying I was called out when an autist deliberately took a metaphor literally because they take pleasure in technical victories

>> No.1772368

>>1771317
>>1772345
>current estimate of species discovered in the world: 11 million
>current estimate of species still undiscovered in the world: 100 million
>current estimate of stars visible in the night sky with the unaided eye: 6,000

>> No.1772376

>>1771317
There are no stars in the sky so technically he is right.

>> No.1772386
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1772386

come on, cthulhu is a srs matter.

>> No.1773801

bump for perhaps some intelligent discussion