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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Celestial a Black Box?
From: Luc Van den Borre
Date: 2016 Jan 17, 23:50 +0100
From: Luc Van den Borre
Date: 2016 Jan 17, 23:50 +0100
On 17/01/16 23:17, Frank Reed wrote: > Quoting an experienced navigation instructor: > "I now make it a point to all navigators that sextant, chronometer and > tables comprise just as much of a 'black box' as does satellite > navigation. Has anyone silvered a mirror lately in an emergency, or > perhaps repaired a chronometer? Celestial navigation is merely an old > fashioned 'black box' requiring a bit more of the navigator..." > > Is this a fair statement today? Is celestial a 'black box'? Just curious > to hear opinions on the matter. That's just a confusion of terms. 'Black box' means one deals with inputs and outputs without knowing the internal workings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box Celestial navigation is only a black box to new students, right after their first introduction to it. After that, everything about it can be learned in detail, at least in principle (I think the same goes for a GPS receiver). Perhaps the instructor means 'a gadget that can break and leave you stranded'. Maybe there's a succinct term for that. Luc
