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From: Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: The insane progress nobody is talking about
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2024 16:18:01 -0400
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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On 6/19/2024 12:10 PM, Christian Weisgerber wrote:
> People are bitching about a lack of flying cars or fusion power,
> but hardly notice the actual, incredible, crazy progress that is
> happening.
> 
> I'm talking of course about artificial illumination.  (Yes, again.)
> Not sexy?  Too bad.
> 
> Recently a conventional light bulb that had escaped my purge revealed
> itself by dying.  I replaced it with the latest generation of Philips
> LED bulb that requires about 1/14 (!) as much energy for the same
> light output and is specified with a lifetime of 50.000 hours, which
> amounts to some 50 years of average use.
> 
> Today I replaced two fluorescent tubes--one had died--in the kitchen
> with LED tubes.  Those require 1/3 the energy and Ledvance specifies
> them with a lifetime of 75.000 hours.  You do the math.
> 
>  From a 20th century point of view, those figures are totally insane.
> When cheap LED lamps became common a few years ago, I thought that
> was the end of the line, but even LED lamps have made significant
> further progress in beam angle, energy efficiency, and lifetime
> within just the last few years.  Anybody who is hoarding lamps for
> use in a few years will be sitting on obsolete technology in no
> time.  Buy today, weep next year.  Between the crazy pace of progress
> and the ever absurder lifetimes, keeping spares around no longer
> makes sense.
> 
> It is utterly stunning progress.
> 

We could have had much longer lasting bulbs long ago, but for
Phoebus Conspiracy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel

TLDR: Back in the 1920s, a cartel of light bulb manufacturers
colluded to limit bulb life to 1000 hours. The cartel broke
up in 1939, but manufacturers continued to observe the limit.

If you think your LED bulbs last, and are efficient, then
you have heard of "Dubai Bulbs"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klaJqofCsu4

pt