You need one existential crisis step further. With very rare exception (some life we’ve found living near thermal vents in the deep sea) all calories are derived from the sun through photosynthesis. I suppose you can muddy the waters with man made light sources powered by non-solar energy, but with the rare exception of nuclear power (or tidal, since that’s moon’s gravity, or geothermal, and a few other niche sources, but even out together these make up such small percentages), most man made energy is just harvesting the sun’s energy with more steps. Oil, that’s just ancient plant matter. Wind, that’s just air currents which only exist due to heat energy from the sun. Solar, lol. Not that grow lights even make up enough to matter, but it’s a fun part of the existential equation.
I’ve often had the thought of an alien planet where all life evolved photosynthesis. Nothing eats each other. And then they touch down on our planet and just see that it’s just like a bunch of creatures devouring each other and they’re horrified and never want to come back. And that’s why we don’t have alien visitors.
You need one existential crisis step further. With very rare exception (some life we’ve found living near thermal vents in the deep sea) all calories are derived from the sun through photosynthesis. I suppose you can muddy the waters with man made light sources powered by non-solar energy, but with the rare exception of nuclear power (or tidal, since that’s moon’s gravity, or geothermal, and a few other niche sources, but even out together these make up such small percentages), most man made energy is just harvesting the sun’s energy with more steps. Oil, that’s just ancient plant matter. Wind, that’s just air currents which only exist due to heat energy from the sun. Solar, lol. Not that grow lights even make up enough to matter, but it’s a fun part of the existential equation.
We eat the sun.
I’ve often had the thought of an alien planet where all life evolved photosynthesis. Nothing eats each other. And then they touch down on our planet and just see that it’s just like a bunch of creatures devouring each other and they’re horrified and never want to come back. And that’s why we don’t have alien visitors.