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This seems like something that could one day pose a big problem for civilization. We have all these electrical outlets just sitting around, waiting for someone
by p1mrx 12y ago
This seems like something that could one day pose a big problem for civilization. We have all these electrical outlets just sitting around, waiting for someone to request huge amounts of energy on demand. If a lifeform ever evolves to use these effectively, they could spread like wildfire.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- Retric 12y agoThere tiny. If you actually look at an electrical outlet they have a fairly large gap to prevent shorting out and potentialy starting a fire. PS: Science fiction seems to love the trope where tiny change destroys civilization but life needs far more than just an energy source.
- p1mrx 12y agoPlant leaves are also quite large. If we could hypothetically leave the earth unsupervised for millions of years with the electrical outlets still working, we'd probably return to find lots of macroscopic electric life.
- Retric 12y agoConsidering the general lack of a near by water source probably not. Now high tension powerlines could be an option as there out doors and pump out a lot of energy which can be collected on both the small and large scales. Don't forget it's been a billion years and plant's still don't use green light. For plankton it was reasonable as green does not penetrate as far but on land it's a huge waste.
- Houshalter 12y agoInteresting point, but certainly there must be a reason why they can't use green light other than just "evolution is slow".