Quote:
Originally Posted by ebacon
As a patent attorney I have the luxury of getting paid to read stories of how we got where we are when it comes to inventions. Every patent begins with a story of the shortcoming of the state of the art and why we need to ooch further down the slippery slope. The funny thing is that looking back at all of those stories and how many patents add up to nothing I realized that the slope is not slippery at all. We spend a lot of money and effort persuading each other to do things that we do not really want for ourselves. So why do we suggestive sell those things to our neighbors?
Take city lighting for instance. The common story is that we need more lighting at night because light makes us safe. For example light reveals burglars hiding in our shrubbery and all that.
But do we really want the light? Of course not. If we did then we would think the ideal building spot is in the middle of the city WHERE ALL OF THE LIGHTS ARE. But when we think of building a new home we never think of going to the brightest spot. Instead we think of going to the warmly lit spot.
What is a warmly lit spot? Urban dwellers that want to stay in the city might seek a warmly lit spot near an observatory. The Cranbrook Observatory comes to mind. Who in southeast Michigan would not want to live near Cranbrook? And why? Because it is bright? No. Because it is dark at night.
For the rednecks, as much as we like to work and build stuff such as lighting fixtures, do we really want more of them? I do not recall ever searching for the best lit campground.
The political fight is in the redneck camp. We need to learn to settle down. Take for example the following patent: US 8,541,949, Donners. It discusses the problem with too much lighting for nocturnal animals and teaches an invention that adjust the lights for them. It reminds me of when Rush Limbaugh made fun of lights and turtles.
We have reached a convergence. Rednecks want less light. Animals want less light. Urban dwellers want warm light.
So why do so many of us get sucked into the narrative that we need more lights? If you want more lights, why?
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I like to see more than the headlights show when driving around town. But once I'm in for the night, shut them all off.