A flaw in Rapture

[aangryman]

Since the society is underwater, this would mean that there is no sunlight that reaches Rapture. No sunlight would cause skin problems and depression, as well as other things among humans. Is there an explanation (am I spelling it right) for this?

[pn18]

I think, you brought up a solid point, but most of the guys here will reply with something like: "it was a society full of geniuses. they invented a man-made sun and placed it down there.":rolleyes:

[jackinthebox]

rapture has special lighting simulating sunlight :rolleyes:

[Karamell]

Judging from some screenshots, the people of Rapture actually do suffer from skin problems and depression... ;)

[Raveness]

Rather than give a trite answer hypocritically belittling members, I will try and offer some possible explanations, fictional as they may be (this game is fiction last time I checked):

+ I'm not that familiar with solar power and its available application in the 50's, but nowadays you can have solar panels absorb and store/redirect sunlight. I read an article recently detailing how a remote village in the Swiss Alps that rarely sees a spot of sunshine did this.

+ More viable option would be artificial sunlight, needed in photosynthesis in the arboretum and providing the vitamin D people need for healthy epidermal growth & maintenance.

+ In-game explanation could come from plasmids.

- All the explanations I've given relate to tech probably not available during the time period; not even close. It would be a bit of a stretch to create a steampunk variant of solar technology.

- Even though the sun is strong in the ocean, it looses heat effectiveness after a short depth. Rapture would require very long power conduits going up from the bathysphere to sea level. This could result in power dissipation over such a long range, on top of that, storage seems too much to hope for..

- Explaining it via plasmids makes the gimmick into too much of a deus ex machina, which it seems to suffer from a bit already.

- Like Karamell says, they don't seem to be getting much in the matter of skin care anyways.

[Hatesink]

Since the society is underwater, this would mean that there is no sunlight that reaches Rapture. No sunlight would cause skin problems and depression, as well as other things among humans. Is there an explanation (am I spelling it right) for this?It was a society of geniuses— they invented a man-made sun and placed it down there.

[Hatesink]

Joking aside, you can actually buy lamps that simulate the effect of the sun on the human body.

People with seasonal affective disorder use them to help ease the symptoms.

[Da Bubs]

Joking aside, you can actually buy lamps that simulate the effect of the sun on the human body.

People with seasonal affective disorder use them to help ease the symptoms.

those are small scale thought, right? if my understanding of the subject is correct photosynthesis doesnt work with your standard 60 watt lightbulb, however whatever kind of lights it is that people use to grow marijuana
in there basements should work and those kinds of lights would be feasible for something large scale like lighting a city during the 1950's I think.

[Hatesink]

There are different types I think.

There are U.V. bulbs, but they're bad for the eyes. I think there is another kind however.

[Nik]

Judging from some screenshots, the people of Rapture actually do suffer from skin problems and depression... ;)

qtf, there scin does look very weird and they have all gone insane.

[Adabiviak]

Are you serious? You can totally buy fluorescent bulbs that produce almost the same spectrum of light that the sun produces (I think they leave out things like microwaves, gamma rays, and other 'undesirable' wavelengths for example). In the '50s I think this would have been a pretty new invention, but if you're talking about maintaing vegetation and vitamin D production in people, no problem. With theoretically limitless energy (if they actually tapped a geothermal vent or whatever the story has), very few things would be problematic, especially if it was set up right. It's like a biodome, except they can augment their food supply with fish and, I suppose, whoever drew the short straw could make a trip to civilization and borrow a cup of sugar in a pinch.

[Iapetus]

I may win the thread necromancer award for this response, but I came upon it while doing a search and wanted to respond.

The issue of light affecting people's moods and health is quite real, but it can be treated by regular exposure to sufficiently bright light. The light serves to synchronize people's circadian rhythms (daily cycles in body temperature, hormone levels, etc.), which would otherwise get out of sync with the 24 hour clock. In some people, these cycles will also get out of sync with each other, which leads to the problems of Seasonal Affective Disorder (which I myself know firsthand).

The real issue is not the spectrum (though the full spectrum lights do look nicer somehow), but the overall visible light intensity. Most people don't realize this, but ordinary room lighting is about 10,000 times less bright than full sunlight. Our eyes (like our ears) have a huge dynamic range, i.e., they adjust for very different light intensities.

However, SAD was only first recognized by the US National Institute of Mental Health in the late 1980s. So in terms of Rapture, they may not have prepared for this. That may account for the popularity of Arcadia, where the lighting was surely brighter for the plants. And it might be one more reason all the people in Rapture are nuts. :)

[Tzz]

Since the society is underwater, this would mean that there is no sunlight that reaches Rapture. No sunlight would cause skin problems and depression, as well as other things among humans. Is there an explanation (am I spelling it right) for this?
There are people living at the North Pole who have 9 month of darkness. I think everybody could handle to be wihout sun for some time.

[BioShockWins]

As far as skin disease, I think people could make up certain artificial lights etc. or just nutrient replacements.

And people could tan. ;)

As far as mental health, are you talking about SAD? People get all depressed in the winter, because they're not exposed to the needed wide variety of light etc.

They have to sit in front of these bright light doo-hickies two hours a day, everyday.

That must suck...

Rather than give a trite answer hypocritically belittling members, I will try and offer some possible explanations.

Oh!
Changing things up for once, are we, Raveness?

Good for you... :p