• Question: Do you think we could ever survive without light?

    Asked by emmab12 to Mark, Matthew, Mike, Paul, Sabina on 10 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Sabina Hatch

      Sabina Hatch answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      It depends if you mean just light or our sun…
      If we lived in a room without light then yes we would survive provided that we were given the right nutrients, although we probably would have a fairly miserable existence.
      However if the earth didn’t have sunlight then we would not survive for a prolonged period of time. The food chain relies on sunlight, and although we could simulate it, that also requires energy – which we have limited resources of. Then there is the issue of warmth from the sunlight, eventually the earth would freeze over.

    • Photo: Matthew Malek

      Matthew Malek answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      It depends on whether you mean by “we” — is it humans, or life in general? Humanity relies on solar energy, which is the foundation of our ecosystem. Plants convert sunlight into energy; animals eat plants; we eat animals (and plants).

      There are other ecosystems that are not so light-dependent, notably deep on the ocean floor. There, there is no light, and yet life thrives. It uses different sources of energy, such as heat from the Earth’s core.

    • Photo: Mike Lee

      Mike Lee answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      It would be really tough to survive without light. We would be continually walking in to things.

    • Photo: Paul Coxon

      Paul Coxon answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Without light, the plants which we rely upon for food would die, then so would we.

      Some sea creatures can exist at the deep within the oceans where light can’t reach. They’ve evolved fascinating abilities to make the most of their harsh environments and are a real example of survival at its best – but goodness do they look ugly! :/

      See here for a gallery of *horrible* creatures! http://www.oddee.com/item_79915.aspx

    • Photo: Mark Jackson

      Mark Jackson answered on 11 Mar 2014:

      There are two ways I could interpret your question.

      The first is whether *our planet* could survive without sunlight. As I explain at http://goo.gl/kwAfUb, I think our planet is so perfectly evolved to depend upon sunlight that not only could we not survive without sunlight, in the future we will devise ways to get even more sunlight.

      The second way is whether *humans* could survive, assuming the resource issues (energy, food, etc.) arising from sunlight were already taken care of. And yes I think we definitely could survive. Blind people lead very functional lives even without sight, and there are a few species that live without light and thus did not evolve eyes (the best example are Cavefish. But we would have to develop better technology for our other senses (enhanced echo-recognition software, for example, like how bats navigate).

Comments