zapkitty wrote:
… but the human brain/body combination is actually pretty efficient at using that energy to accomplish a very wide range of tasks… but as for our gadgets at this time? Not so much. They tend to be either very efficient at a very limited set of tasks or not so efficient at a wider range of tasks. Thus more gadgets and/or more power per gadget are needed to accomplish a given set of tasks.

So while a megawatt per capita would be a giant leap forward in comparison to current available reserves it seems that at this time it would be nowhere near the equivalent of 10,000 people supporting one person. But that will change over time with advances in technology.

… BTW…. doesn’t “slave” in that usage imply sapience? Probably not a good idea to tick off the AIs…

I will admit that 1 megawatt of computers given our current algorithms and programming hutzpah is not going to be able to compete with 10000 humans in terms of, say, dirty limerick writing. But how does a megawatt of backhoe compare to 10000 humans in terms of ditch digging? Looking at wikipedia has a 1950’s back hoe clocking in at 50e3 watts(68 hp), or 500 people’s worth of energy. It’s listed as having a 14 thousand pound operating weight. I don’t know what that term means, but i’ll treat it as what it can lift.

14e3/5e2=140/5=28 pounds per person. Hrmmm, my back pack gets that heavy from time to time. I guess that the advantage of mechanization is you don’t have to pay health insurance.