We live in interesting times. Now is an excellent time to take a step back from the frantic pace of developing new technologies and view the broad outlook for the future, in contrast with the past, looking at how we have historically thought about, observed and worked in the marine environment, compared to what lies ahead. We are at the leading edge of some game-changing technological developments with AI, robotics, computation and other areas revolutionising the way we do business in the ocean. We are also faced with some unprecedented challenges in the history of oceanography and anthropogenic impact on our planet. This presentation offers a perspective and a vision, with some examples from exciting new developments such as distributed acoustic sensing, imagining how these will transform how we observe and operate in the marine environment. Speaker(s): John Potter Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/451122