It's easy to take artificial light for granted and never think about what an enabling technology it is to be able to see equally well whether it's day or night or, for that matter, in any closed interior space. It's not a survival need, but seeing in the dark is effectively a superpower. While light has been scarce and expensive for almost all of human history, the past two centuries or so saw the cost of light (the price per lumen-hour) drop by a factor of ten thousand.

— How Infrastructure Works by Deb Chachra (Page 25)