“A Decade Lived in the Dark” (New Yorker) is about a woman in England who believes that she is “sensitive to light” and has to live in the dark. The article is kind of interesting on its own account, especially given that the sufferer has written a successful book about her experience.
I wonder if this shows a good evolutionary adaption to a more crowded world. In the mid-20th century a middle class American could afford a standalone house within a reasonable commuting time of a job. The standalone house would have windows on all four sides and therefore there would be plenty of light inside the house from sunrise to sunset. As the U.S. population is headed toward a number previously associated with India or China more of us will have to live in apartments, which may get light from only one side (like a hotel room). Given that Americans spend a lot of time indoors, I wonder if our more crowded country means a generally darker experience for the average person.
With all due respect, if you mean true genetic evolutionary adaption, you must be joking. How can one or two generations in mid-20th century can have a “light-aversion” mutation appear and become at least somewhat common?
Also, U.S. population is growing, but it is nowhere near the populations of China or India, being only 20-25% of the population of either.
There’s also an interesting phenomenon with artificial lighting. As CFLs and LEDs have improved the energy efficiency of lighting, consumers have responded by increasing the amount of light they use:
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2014/04/weekend-reading-dirk-hanson-drowning-in-light.html
@ Fazal – kind of like the small fuel-efficient cars which emerged in the European market a number of years ago – have you seen how they drive them, in Italy, for example? Pretty much obviates the benefit. But then it’s been known (like the Trumpism we have come to know so well: “people tell me”) as windows become more energy efficient we just put install more of them.
Highrises have definitely darkened the streets. Today’s mobile apps are written in a much darker SOMA than the mobile apps of 4 years ago. The financial district will soon be getting their bailouts in the shadow of Salesforce. When Uber finishes demolishing & rebuilding China basin, the Giants will be playing in their shadow. The Linkedin shadow is now cast over the real estate startup quarter.
@Robert – Not to single you out on a peripheral point but this is a pet peeve of mine. The road fatality rates in Italy are about half of what they are in the US. No driving style will make the mileage of a Fiat 500 worse than the typical American SUV. The built environment, heavy gas tax, difficulty of getting and maintaining a drivers license, and automated enforcement mean that, initial impressions aside, cars in Europe don’t incur the same societal cost as they do in the US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate
On a similar note, highrises require a lot of interior lighting and HVAC that shorter 4-6 story buildings don’t need due to shading and cross-ventilation. When you add in parking requirements and luxury square footages, it takes a lot of extra height just to maintain the same density in a highrise as in old American (or modern European) mid-rise construction.