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James Cameron successfully dives to deepest point on Earth

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I

Ignis Fatuus

Banned
I think he's being honest when he says that he didn't see shit. I don't think he'd be able to contain himself if he saw an actual fish, that'd be a huge deal.
 
N

NinjaFridge

Unconfirmed Member
Ignis Fatuus said:
I think he's being honest when he says that he didn't see shit. I don't think he'd be able to contain himself if he saw an actual fish, that'd be a huge deal.
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Be pretty shitty if he saw some awesome stuff but was holding out for the documentary. I know he wouldn't do it but it would be such a dick move.
 
mclaren777

mclaren777

Member
JoshuaJSlone said:

"What? Sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sounds of people not dead from malaria."
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Great reply!
 
B

Bowdz

Member
NinjaFridge said:
Be pretty shitty if he saw some awesome stuff but was holding out for the documentary. I know he wouldn't do it but it would be such a dick move.
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I think he is still reeling from the shock of having to cut the mission short after seeing a megalodon swim in front of his sub. He has seen things....
 
C

CF_Fighter

Member
HolyCheck said:
Any early reports on what he saw? Did anything malfunction? Did everything go as planned?
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Care of the NY Times

No sea monsters. No strange life. No fish. Just amphipods — tiny shrimplike creatures swimming across a featureless plane of ooze that stretched off into the primal darkness.


“It was very lunar, a very desolate place,” James Cameron, the movie director, said in a news conference on Monday after completing the first human dive in 52 years to the ocean’s deepest spot, nearly seven miles down in the western Pacific.

“We’d all like to think there are giant squid and sea monsters down there,” he said, adding that such creatures still might be found. But on this dive he saw “nothing larger than about an inch across” — just the shrimplike creatures, which are ubiquitous scavengers of the deep.
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Very interested to watch that footage, but yea sounds like nothing really. But, the fact that life exists even down there is very cool in itself. He said this is the start of an era of exploration and I agree. Will be interesting to see Branson's dive as I believe that one will be travelling a much larger area around the Challenger Deep which will provide some more interesting footage and the ability to see if there is any variation in the environment.
 
D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
CF_Fighter said:
Care of the NY Times



Very interested to watch that footage, but yea sounds like nothing really. But, the fact that life exists even down there is very cool in itself. He said this is the start of an era of exploration and I agree. Will be interesting to see Branson's dive as I believe that one will be travelling around the Challenger Deep instead of just being in a stationary position which will provide some more interesting footage and the ability to see if there is any variation in the environment.
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I thought Cameron's sub could move around?
 
M

MrOogieBoogie

BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
genjiZERO said:
uhhhh... just because I think all his films in the past have been trite it doesn't follow I think his next one will be. Maybe I don't know what "trite" means (although obviously I do because I used a synonym "fluff" in an earlier post), but you don't seem to get logic :p

And anyway I was up front about it being a petty knee-jerk reaction.

Jesus, so much Cameron circle-jerkyness in this tread.... sorry for having an irrational emotional reaction. I guess no one else has those...
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Well, at least you admit that your entire argument and point-of-view are senseless and not to be taken seriously.
 
S

Stet

Banned
PjotrStroganov said:
If the documentary partly is about how the sub was developed, I'll be happy.
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I thought that was the most interesting part. He was only down there for a couple of hours, it's not like he explored the whole thing or even had a chance to see anything remarkable. It's more remarkable that he was down there at all with HD cameras.
 
P

PjotrStroganov

Member
I doubt there is much life to be found at that depth. No sunlight and or any other sources of energy would mean no means of sustainable life. The occurrence of thermal vents does seem remote too. Until now they are only found on oceanic ridges. Not trenches.
 
Theonik

Theonik

Member
PjotrStroganov said:
I doubt there is much life to be found at that depth. No sunlight and or any other sources of energy would mean no means of sustainable life. The occurrence of thermal vents does seem remote too. Until now they are only found on oceanic ridges. Not trenches.
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I believe that there is high volcanic activity in the trench due to its geographic location. That heat should allow at least micro organisms to exist.
The deepest part of the ocean is called the abyssal zone. it is host to thousands of species of invertebrates and fish including such oddities as the Angler Fish (see illustration), so called because it uses a bioluminescent (life light) protrusion to attract its prey. The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is very cold, and highly pressurized; its floor features hydrothermal (hot water ) vents formed by spreading tectonic plates which release hydrogen sulfide and
other minerals which are consumed by the barophilic bacteria which are then consumed by other microorganisms, which are in turn, consumed by the fish, and so on. The temperature around the vents can reach up to 300° Celsius (572° Fahrenheit). The venting fluid is highly acidic, while the water from the deep ocean is slightly basic. Although the venting fluid is prevented from boiling due to its dissipation into the surrounding freezing water, creatures from the deep show an incredible resistance to temperature extremes by having different proteins which are adapted for life under these conditions; allowing the animals to eat, process food, and reproduce.
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http://www.marianatrench.com/mariana_trench-biology_001.htm
"Life... Life finds a way"
 
R

Reno7728

Member
mr. puppy said:
you, and this post, pretty much sums up why the headline on CNN.com was "tiger woods wins putting ball in little hole sport after sticking his dick in a bunch of ugly old bitches" instead of something as fucking amazing as this.
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Just because I say it looks boring, doesn't mean I don't fully support and admire what Cameron is doing (hence why i was looking for footage and posting it in the first place).

Hell, Cameron himself pretty much agrees. I'd say desolate = boring from a visual standpoint, when you consider all the amazing things in the sea. The moon's surface looks boring, but its still awesome.
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
JoshuaJSlone said:
Not feeling some of the disappointment.
rover_lg.gif

"Houston, we wasted a trip. Just rocks LOL."
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There actually were some scientists who thought the moon landings were being wasteful because the astronauts kept bringing back the same type of rock. It wasn't until later missions, when the astronauts were given more geologic training that more useful samples were retrieved.
 
I

Ignis Fatuus

Banned
NatGeo is probably not too happy that there was nothing down there. Accomplishment notwithstanding, two and a half hours of sand doesn't make for a good visual attraction.
 
H

HP_Wuvcraft

Banned
Not to diminish this or anything, but did he just say "Jaques Cousteu always said that we go there because we don't know what's down there, so we go down there to find out what's down there"?

Also, great unintentional gaf:
"And the images he brought back are simply amazing."
Cue Jake Sully riding a horse.
 
Laughing Banana

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Is it really possible for a large creature--sea monsters or what-have-you--to really exist on that kind of place seeing how incredibly large the water pressure is?
 
Biff

Biff

Member
Laughing Banana said:
Is it really possible for a large creature--sea monsters or what-have-you--to really exist on that kind of place seeing how incredibly large the water pressure is?
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Nah, it's mostly squishy little colourless bottom feeders. The cool stuff is around halfway down.

Give em some Red Bull, Jimmy. That'll wake em up!
 
D

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
Sounds boring. I mean, sure, the moon just had dirt and rocks, but that was a place entirely different from anywhere mankind had been before. I mean, we've been to the bottom of the ocean, just not that super deep section. Unfortunately there was nothing interesting there. Certainly you have to go to find out, but damn. *snore*
 
Laughing Banana

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
ChefRamsay said:
Nah, it's mostly squishy little colourless bottom feeders. The cool stuff is around halfway down.

Give em some Red Bull, Jimmy. That'll wake em up!
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Yeah I don't think a large creature can actually live there since its body will get destroyed by the water pressure.

...But I suppose one can never know what nature can do to surprise science, eh?

Dan said:
Sounds boring. I mean, sure, the moon just had dirt and rocks, but that was a place entirely different from anywhere mankind had been before. I mean, we've been to the bottom of the ocean, just not that super deep section. Unfortunately there was nothing interesting there. Certainly you have to go to find out, but damn. *snore*
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Speaking in terms of percentage, how much of the ocean has humanity actually explored? I am sure it is very little.
 
Mengy

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Exploring isn't always about finding something interesting though. Sometimes it's just as important to find nothing at all. Before this dive all we really had were lots of speculations, and it will take many more dives to explore the trench enough to get a good overall view of it, but even if we find that it is barren and devoid of anything really interesting, then at least we will now know that for certain. Questions answered is what exploring is all about, even if the answers are less than exciting.
 
The Elite

The Elite

BOSS
Mengy said:
Exploring isn't always about finding something interesting though. Sometimes it's just as important to find nothing at all. Before this dive all we really had were lots of speculations, and it will take many more dives to explore the trench enough to get a good overall view of it, but even if we find that it is barren and devoid of anything really interesting, then at least we will now know that for certain. Questions answered is what exploring is all about, even if the answers are less than exciting.
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It is when you want to have a televised special. I'm not saying what James Cameron accomplished isn't impressive, it's just that there was nothing interesting down there. At least nothing of interest for general consumption.

It's all about the process of getting there at this point.
 
Gorgon

Gorgon

Member
Ignis Fatuus said:
Calcium can't exist as a solid at that pressure, there shouldn't be any fish. Much less a megalodon.
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You're talking about the carbonate compensation depth? There's far more to that then pressure alone. We have footage from fish at 8 km depth. And we have recovered dead fish from deeper than that. And in the 1960s Don Walsh from the Triest reported seeying a flatfish before the waters became turbid at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Plus, we can have cartilaginous fish instead of bony fish too.
 
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