Comparison of Two Designs for a Solar Collector

Above are two designs for a solar collector. On the left is Mother Nature’s; on the right is Man’s. By most folks’ aesthetic judgement, the one on the left is quite a bit more attractive. In fact, in addition to collecting the sun’s energy the flower is also (mainly?) a sex organ, responsible for attracting pollinators. So apparently I’m not the only one who considers it attractive. I’ll accept that there are some avenues of thought by which the one on the right is beautiful. I’d imagine its creators must have had a moment or two where they reflected on their artwork and patted themselves on the back for an elegant and handsome design, which it is. But you gotta admit, it’s no Hawaiian Sunset/Fiesta Hibiscus.

I just find the comparison fascinating… making me think about the different design processes. Mother Nature, or Ma N. for short, used DNA. She came up with that little trick about 4 billion years ago, give or take 200 million, but let’s not quibble. Since then Ma N. essentially rolled the dice on little experiments with shape and color a few gazillion times, and voila, after only 4 billion years in her workshop, we have this outrageously seductive yellow-orange flower. I get a kick out of how each one seems to have precisely five of those little red dots (stigmas?). Come hither, little bee.

And in the other corner we have Man, with his black plastic rectangle. Gorgeous. At least its designer must justifiably be proud. And how long did this take to create… what’s the right comparison between Man and Ma N? The Bell+Howell Solar Garden Light might have had a project lifetime of a year or two, but is that really an instructive comparison? I think not.

I’m thinking that Man worked on this since the dawn of technology. A 2024 solar light is nothing less than a staggering achievement in the history of the Cosmos; it represents the collective technological prowess of our entire species, over the millenia, since… we first created the wheel??? That was the Sumerians about six thousand years ago. Or since the first arrowheads were fashioned? A solar cell and light includes almost every science and manufacturing process that Man has divined (electricity, chemistry, electronics, mathematics). Whatever your yardstick, Ma N. created Man and said, let’s see YOU create a solar collector. And so here we are. Nice job, both of you.