Freer countries are brighter in at least one way.

A tiny denomination in the Environmental Religion is a small group that endlessly complains about “light pollution”. “Light pollution” keeps a dozen or so astronomers from seeing into outer space as well as they would if their portion of the world was as dark as most of Africa, the Gobi Desert, Central South America, most of desert Australia, or North Korea,

The National Geographic periodically has articles on the “dangers of light pollution”. So do the major newsmagazines. The Asso’d Press releases such articles, usually once or twice a year, on slow news days.

If the astronomers are so concerned, why don’t they simply move their telescopes to some of the truly dark places on the globe?

Maybe, they just don’t like brightness.

Maybe, living in the places that aren’t very bright isn’t much fun.

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