Having learned them one was certain that they would not change significantly for years. This scheme, and many more just as primitive by today s digital standards , established the science of oceanography. There were many failures. There were even more successes. We exist as a science on both those failures and those successes.
Electronic consoles are mazes of uncertainty.
Underwater connections carry signals unheard of just a few years ago - signals that are indeed unheard when the box goes into the water. Software now controls practically everything - from the ship s position to the way entries are made in the logs. Dives made a few years ago only by the brave or foolhardy are now routinely assigned to students barely old enough to vote. The successes are spectacular. What we see on the video may not be what is really there any more than it was a few years ago when we observed phenomena more directly.