For thousands of years, getting light was a lot of work. You had to make candles from scratch, which is not as romantic as it sounds. You had to get a cow, raise a cow, feed the cow, kill the cow, get the fat out of the cow, cook the fat, and soak a wick in the fat. All of this had to be done to get any significant amount of light. Now, if you want to light up an entire room, you just flip a switch.
The history of light explains why the world is the way it is today. The history of light explains why we’re not all subsistence farmers, why we can afford artists and masseuses and plumbers. (And, of course, there are people making podcasts about the history of light.) The history of light is the history of economic growth, the history of things getting faster, cheaper, more efficient.
In today’s show, we’ll show you how we went from a dim little candle made from cow fat to being able to get as much light as you want with the flip of a switch.
Today’s show was hosted by Jacob Goldstein and David Kestenbaum. It was originally produced by Caitlin Kenney and Damiano Marchetti. Today’s rebroadcast was produced by James Sneed and edited by Jenny Lawton. Engineering was by Valentina Rodriguez-Sanchez. Alex Goldmark is Executive Producer for Planet Money.
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Music: “French Quarter Boogaloo,” “TK Song Title,” “Give It to You”
