Jesse Peltan(@JessePeltan ):For most of human existence, we had only 100 watts per person - enough food to fuel metabolism. Fire and animal labor expanded our power supply to a few hundred watts per person. Today, the average American has ~10,000 W at their disposal - a 100x increase. A 100x increase in power may seem just as unimaginable to us today as it would have to our ancestors, but in retrospect we can hardly imagine how people ever lived without the abundance we enjoy today. Our descendants will feel a similar sense of bewilderment as they look back on us.

2025.05.12 09:19

For most of human existence, we had only 100 watts per person - enough food to fuel metabolism. Fire and animal labor expanded our power supply to a few hundred watts per person. Today, the average American has ~10,000 W at their disposal - a 100x increase. A 100x increase in power may seem just as unimaginable to us today as it would have to our ancestors, but in retrospect we can hardly imagine how people ever lived without the abundance we enjoy today. Our descendants will feel a similar sense of bewilderment as they look back on us.