And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And man discovered fire. And he cooked his food over its flame, and warmed himself by its flickering light. And gathered around it with his family and his tribe to share stories and connection. And it was good.
And man created candles and oil lamps and other portable methods for fire. And he placed these miniature fires in his home to light his way. And the evening and the morning began to ever so slightly coalesce, that there was no distinct separation. And it wasn’t the best, but it was still pretty good.
And then electricity burst onto the scene and man created the light bulb. And the day and the night and the day were no longer separate. And ‘burning the midnight oil’ happened with the flick of a switch. And the brilliant idea of harnessing fire in a glass globe spread throughout the world. And it seemed good. And it seemed like progress. But was it?
And then.
In the name of progress and cost savings and THE FUTURE we changed that lightbulb into something efficient! and cheaper! and dimmable! and you can buy it in soft white, or bright white, or daytime. And the 60 watt equivalent bulb uses a fraction of the energy and you’re saving the planet. And yes, we know that the light ain’t quite right, and that your eyes hurt and your head hurts and you can’t concentrate if you sit under it for too long. BUT PROGRESS. It’s good for the environment! And your pocketbook!
And along the way the screens crept in. Small ones. Big ones. Computer ones and television ones. And even ones that you can carry in your pocket and DING and pull out DING whenever you want. And now DING it’s not just a phone but its THE INTERNETS IN YOUR POCKET and you don’t have to DING pay for phone call minutes DING anymore because it’s unlimited and DING and you can send messages to people all day long. And look at pictures. And videos of cats and epic fails and sportsball. And you can DING read books on it! And hey - you’ve always liked to DING read a book after you DING climb in bed. And now you can DING do it on your DING phone!! And when you’re done reading, you can DING put it on your nightstand and DING use it for your alarm clock so that DING when you roll over in the night you can see what time it is on the screen!
And NOW you can wrap a smaller screen around your wrist. and it can measure your heart beats. and your oxygen levels. and you can tell it about your mood. and it can tell you how bad you’re sleeping and how bad you’ve slept all week. And how many steps you still need to take today and remind you that it’s time to stand up and you haven’t stood up in a long time and WHY AREN’T YOU STANDING UP? ARE YOU ANTI-STANDETIC? and you can stare at that tiny screen on your wrist while you’re manipulating the other screen in your other hand with your thumb that keeps cramping up for some reason while you’re watching the big screen that’s hanging on your wall.
And God saw this,
and shook His head,
and painted another sunset across the sky,
and hoped that his kids would realize what they’d done.
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This week on the podcast, I had a fascinating conversation with the CEO of Chroma (https://getchroma.co), a company that is quite literally reinventing the lightbulb. We talk about the harmful effects of artificial light and what they’re doing to help solve the problem. Check out the full episode: