I'm now currently living in Germany and while darker streets were surprising initially, I noticed that from local park it's much easier to see stars than in my previous cities :)
More seriously though, while I don't mind a bit darker streets, overall German energy and housing policy is infuriating and is certainly damaging productivity and economic growth.
I enjoyed this - both on a literal and metaphorical level. I have a question though: "Light, therefore, may be the ultimate measure of human progress."
I really liked the idea of measuring cost of things through time effort. Now in hindsight it seems obvious, but I didn't realise it before. Also, after reading this piece light is a very interesting example for my arguments with people regarding what will the future progress of humanity mean (i.e. my opinion of the scale of things we can do and abundance in everyday life is usually met with extreme scepticism)
I'd only suggest adding a picture of discussed 'stone' lamps and maybe additionally representing you graphs on a logarithmic scale could provide additional intuitions about this trend of progress. One small correction is that you mention stone lamps from 40 000 years ago and refer to them as neolithic. This time was not neolithic. And most sources that I see at a first glance state that first lamps are from roughly 72 000 years ago, though Idk where this difference comes from.
Otherwise, fun, enlightening and not too long read, that's a nice refresher compared to what is mostly published by people that I read
Germany not on the right track it seems...
https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1848059548101132700
I'm now currently living in Germany and while darker streets were surprising initially, I noticed that from local park it's much easier to see stars than in my previous cities :)
More seriously though, while I don't mind a bit darker streets, overall German energy and housing policy is infuriating and is certainly damaging productivity and economic growth.
I enjoy taking a telescope out at night, but the light pollution greatly limits what can be seen
Wow
Symbolism beat common sense. See EVs, solar panels, wind generators for more examples.
Germany regressing.
Great article! Light really is an excellent measure of progress.
I enjoyed this - both on a literal and metaphorical level. I have a question though: "Light, therefore, may be the ultimate measure of human progress."
Why light and not energy in general?
Energy used to be considered the ultimate measure, but energy use per capita has plateaued since the 1970s in many nations.
Interesting - never knew that, thanks for sharing
I discuss this a bit in one of my essays. It's probably behind a paywall, so DM me if you would like access.
It's fantastic and incredible.
I really liked the idea of measuring cost of things through time effort. Now in hindsight it seems obvious, but I didn't realise it before. Also, after reading this piece light is a very interesting example for my arguments with people regarding what will the future progress of humanity mean (i.e. my opinion of the scale of things we can do and abundance in everyday life is usually met with extreme scepticism)
I'd only suggest adding a picture of discussed 'stone' lamps and maybe additionally representing you graphs on a logarithmic scale could provide additional intuitions about this trend of progress. One small correction is that you mention stone lamps from 40 000 years ago and refer to them as neolithic. This time was not neolithic. And most sources that I see at a first glance state that first lamps are from roughly 72 000 years ago, though Idk where this difference comes from.
Otherwise, fun, enlightening and not too long read, that's a nice refresher compared to what is mostly published by people that I read
Thank you! I will try to find a non-copyright image. The 40,000 years date and term "neolithic" comes from the source. I am checking on that.
Great article JK! It seems that we are pretty close (less than an order of magnitude) from the theoretical upper limit: https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/357601/what-is-the-theoretical-limit-of-lumen-watt-for-lighting-systems#360167.
Wow. We can still go an order of magnitude higher?