Buddy system flawed?

[systematic.entropy]

Before this thread engulfs in flames, I'm gonna try and get my .02 in. Looking around the room, I see the faces of people who are very equipped to dive solo, (which is what we're really talking about here). That being said, I have seen several divers who are not. In fact, I'd venture to say most divers, as a general statement, are NOT properly trained or even have adaquate experience to dive solo. And have seen on several occasions where a recreational diver has needed a buddy at depth to assist in a bubble leak , a misrouted hose, an out of air emergency, etc.

Really, if you're a recreational diver, diving a single AL80, with no bailout, it is not ok to dive solo. Even with a pony bottle, without knowing things like proper rigging, spacial awareness, and plenty of experience in the environment you diving alone in, a recreational diver should not dive solo. All of the above things are practices you really learn in basic technical training, which is fundamentally solo diving.

I'm of the opinion that more often than not, a buddy is a good thing to have. Now, when you get into things like actual cave and wreck penetation, mixed gas, decompression, CCR, etc. the buddy system can become debatable. For example, when I dive with a CCR, and my buddy is an OC guy with 30 dives under his belt, I'm assuming I'm diving solo. And he's assuming he's diving with a buddy.