The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light

[Joseph Tracy]

It isn't an argument at all. It is an observation and a memory. I have not said lights are not needed in urban areas. I have only said many places are seriously over lit at night and that I like the dark and stars and am glad I live where that is the norm.  I'm a night owl. I would go crazy without lights to read and work into the night.  I'm not taking any sides other than common sense and not being wasteful. sheesh. Lights do, in fact create very dark shadows that can be and are used by criminals.  That doesn't mean lights have have no use or deterrence. I think there is statistical evidence that they do. The book sounds interesting. Humans have gone from candles and fires to flood lit cities. 
Pynchon seems to have thought seriously  about it too. From that early scene in V to Benny the Bulb, to the world fair in Chicago to Light over the ranges.   
On Sep 6, 2013, at 6:48 PM, malignd at aol.com wrote:

> So your argument is what?  Turn off the lights because they're ineffective, based on your expertise at playing hide and seek?   
> Also, lit areas make an interesting terrain of light and shadows that a clever 
> criminal can use.  As a kid we used to play hide and seek at night  with outside 
> lights and because of those lights and the contrasts they created I found I 
> could stand in shadows which physically were open to and close to home base  and 
> be completely unseen. No one else wanted to do it because they felt that because 
> they could clearly see the seeker the seeker might see them.  I suspect this 
> principle is known to those criminals who work in the dark.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
> To: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Fri, Sep 6, 2013 9:04 am
> Subject: Re: The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light
> 
> This seems obvious. But there is a huge energy savings possible in at least 
> bringing the lighting down to where it does the job without blotting out the 
> human connection to the night.  
> 
> Also, lit areas make an interesting terrain of light and shadows that a clever 
> criminal can use.  As a kid we used to play hide and seek at night  with outside 
> lights and because of those lights and the contrasts they created I found I 
> could stand in shadows which physically were open to and close to home base  and 
> be completely unseen. No one else wanted to do it because they felt that because 
> they could clearly see the seeker the seeker might see them.  I suspect this 
> principle is known to those criminals who work in the dark. 
> 
> On Sep 5, 2013, at 10:10 PM, David Morris wrote:
> 
> > Oops  "Send"
> > 
> > Lights in the City are required for survival.  Crime and cockroaches like dark 
> in the City.
> > 
> > On Thursday, September 5, 2013, David Morris wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > On Thursday, September 5, 2013, Joseph Tracy wrote:
> > I live in Vermont about 500 yards from the nearest steetlamp and maybe twice 
> that from the highway that passes through town.  Having lived in many rural 
> places I treasure the unimpeded starlight and the blackness of an overcast 
> evening. The only noise is the small volume of traffic on our road and the creek 
> across the street.   A few of us have helped prevent more lights from going up 
> in town and argued to reduce what we have or get lamps that are efficient and 
> direct the light down.  When one flies the sheer volume of energy being used on 
> excessive light is disturbing even though the patterns are visually entrancing.
> 
>