5 ms·
The conversation about the grid being born and how rapidly early power systems paid themselves off made me think about how substantially easier it is to produce
by wolfram74 3y ago
The conversation about the grid being born and how rapidly early power systems paid themselves off made me think about how substantially easier it is to produce light now than over historical periods. I believe the economics term for this would be that photons are extremely deflationary relative to labor?
- theandrewbailey 3y ago> I believe the economics term for this would be that photons are extremely deflationary relative to labor? Maybe, but I think most economists would say that technology caused productivity to increase to previously unimaginable levels, so today's labor can create way more photons than in the past.
- bombcar 3y agoWe’ve turned what used to be an exceptionally precious commodity (light, especially after the sun set) into a pollutant. Go us.
- HPsquared 3y agoLLMs are doing the same with written content.
- nmz 3y agoI'm not going to blame pre BC humans for needing light, especially when nocturnal creatures existed. If anything this is an absolute win, we are still burning something in order to produce light, but what we burn is way less of a pollutant than wood.
- bombcar 3y agoI'm referring to light pollution, not the power source. It used to be that if you saw light at night, you knew humans were there - now we light millions of uninhabited acres.
- imtringued 3y agohttps://youtube.com/watch?v=rWBCyNMfCAE https://youtube.com/watch?v=rWBCyNMfCAE
- bombcar 3y agoSHIFTLOCKERDUDE 2 months ago Tornado took it down last night Sounds like someone somewhere also didn't like it ...
- pfannkuchen 3y agoWhat uninhabited land do we light up? Not familiar with what you’re referring to.
- coryrc 3y agoFreeways, parking lots, commercial skyscrapers at night, storage facilities, etc
- pfannkuchen 3y agoFrom the GP: > millions of uninhabited acres. Is my closet “uninhabited” when I’m not using it? If so, then yes, these are definitely some examples.
- bombcar 3y agoI was thinking of all the street lamps on completely empty roads in the middle of nowhere.
- wnc3141 3y agoInnovation is the key factor of economic growth in industrialized economies. Innovation produces wealth , which in turn produces innovation sort of cycle. Light has in sorts been dematerialized, i.e we get more output per raw material of input (think of coal in a furnace vs. LEDs powered by a modern grid)