My friend recently returned from a two month stint on a cruise ship. I’m not sure of his exact role; I think he was just working as a deckhand. I asked him how the job had been. Usually that kind of enquiry would be made out of politeness; this time I was genuinely interested.
“It was strange at first,” he replied. “At night, they don’t allow you to use any light at all. It was actually quite cool. Once your eyes adjust you can see perfectly well, provided it’s pitch black.”
I was a little amazed, not just that from a two month voyage this was all he had to report, but that the human visual system was so powerful. It made me think of all the energy we have wasted over the last hundred years. Houses and cars flood our cities with artificial beams of light; even our darkened streets are polluted with unnatural brightness. The discovery of fire and invention of electricity are far less impressive than I first thought. We would see just as well without them.
“It was strange at first,” he replied. “At night, they don’t allow you to use any light at all. It was actually quite cool. Once your eyes adjust you can see perfectly well, provided it’s pitch black.”
I was a little amazed, not just that from a two month voyage this was all he had to report, but that the human visual system was so powerful. It made me think of all the energy we have wasted over the last hundred years. Houses and cars flood our cities with artificial beams of light; even our darkened streets are polluted with unnatural brightness. The discovery of fire and invention of electricity are far less impressive than I first thought. We would see just as well without them.