# headlights? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 12, 1999, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720 "1999-11-12T01:20:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mdloafer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@mdloafer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mdloafer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/1 "1999-11-12T01:20:00Z")
Okay, let’s imagine that humans could all see perfectly well in the dark. With no need to invent an artificial light source, would electricity ever have been “discovered”? –mdloafer ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/2 "1999-11-12T01:33:00Z")
No. And if my Grandma had wheels, she’d be a wagon. * * * TT “Believe those who seek the truth. Doubt those who find it.” --Andre Gide ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/3 "1999-11-12T02:07:00Z")
Of course! Ben Franklin was goofing around with kites and keys more than a century before Tom Edison developed a practical electrical light source. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/4 "1999-11-12T02:08:00Z")
Electricity was discovered long before anyone thought to use it to make light. * * * Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/5 "1999-11-12T02:12:00Z")
## Aha! But would the electric **company** have been discovered?? “Vandelay!! Say Vandelay!!” ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/6 "1999-11-12T02:40:00Z")
pluto: If it hadn’t been, would Morgan Freeman have been as popular an actor as he is? ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/7 "1999-11-12T16:26:00Z")
You could as easily ask if humans would have ever learned to use fire, since they wouldn’t need it to see… Electricity is used for far more than just lights; it would certainly have been used to develop electric motors to name just one. * * * “Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.” Dennis Matheson — [dennis@mountaindiver.com](mailto:dennis@mountaindiver.com) Hike, Dive, Ski, Climb — [www.mountaindiver.com](http://www.mountaindiver.com) ---
**Author:** ![Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 1999, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/8 "1999-11-13T06:14:00Z")
But if we didn’t need light bulbs, what would appear over our heads when we had an idea? ---
**Author:** ![Sake\_Samurai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sake\_Samurai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sake_Samurai)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 1999, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/9 "1999-11-13T06:24:00Z")
If we could see perfectly well in the dark we would need to invent REAL darkness. I mean, how would we watch films, tell ghost stories, make good shadow puppets, and most importantly, make love to that blind date who’s face is not quite on par with her body? * * * Hell is Other People. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 1999, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/10 "1999-11-13T06:54:00Z")
And could you see yourself in the mirror with your eyes closed? ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 1999, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/11 "1999-11-14T01:15:00Z")
And the Bible might begin a bit differently. Genesis, Chapter One: 1 In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. 1. And the Earth was without form and void and _lightness_ was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 2. And God said, Let there be _dark_: And there was _dark_. Maybe the question should be: “How would life and history be different if humans could see perfectly in the dark?” * * * Fighting my own ignorance since 1957. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 1999, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/12 "1999-11-14T03:24:00Z")
What makes you think we can’t? You know Sony Nightshot, cool! Plus, what about lightning? I mean, shoot, what would happen to that if no electricity? Then it would be blackening? ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 1999, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headlights/4720/13 "1999-11-14T03:56:00Z")
Threads like this make me seek the dark side of the sun. Ray