By PAUL BRISLEN
He's visited the wreck of the Titanic and journeyed under the North Pole, but the man who stood up in front of Microsoft's Tech Ed conference in Auckland yesterday was there to talk about human emotion.
Dr Joe MacInnis has four honorary doctorates and a slew of letters after his name but this Canadian oceanographer says his greatest qualification is "a PhD in fear".
"When you take out all the technology and the hardware you're left with the people around you making extraordinary decisions."
For MacInnis, the heart of any team lies in the human ability to communicate at a higher level.
MacInnis, called Charlie Tuna by his shipmates for his constant fretting over the danger involved in his various activities, spoke of his journey down to the wreck of the Titanic, a trip that took four hours and gave him plenty of time for introspection.
"I started thinking about all the miles of cables and wiring that surrounded the craft and the thousands of electrical connections and what would happen if a fire broke out and how the smoke and fire would have only one place to go, into our lungs."
The pilot, a Frenchman, clearly sensed his unease and, when the mini-sub arrived on the ocean floor, he broke out a picnic complete with a bottle of beaujolais.
"He told me afterwards that he was just as scared as I was but he took the time to share his confidence with me, to give me the gift of confidence. We spent nine hours down there exploring the Titanic and I couldn't have done it without that gift."
MacInnis spoke to more than 1800 Microsoft developers at the conference, introducing a human element to what could be a daunting three days of software-intensive sessions at the SkyCity Auckland Convention Centre.
Oceanographer revels in human touch at Tech Ed conference
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