Unit 8

    Text

    Would you choose to live underground if you could gain many advantages from doing so？ Weather would no longer trouble you. Temperature would remain the same all the year round. Artificial lighting could make the rhythm of our life uniform everywhere. And the ecology of the natural world above ground would be greatly improved. Still， the prospect of moving underground may not be appealing to many people.

    THE NEW CAVES

    Isaac Asimov

    During the ice ages， human beings exposed to the colder temperatures of the time would often make their homes in caves. There they found greater comfort and security than they would have in the open.

    We still live in caves called houses， again for comfort and security. Virtually no one would willingly sleep on the ground under the stars. Is it possible that someday we may seek to add further to our comfort and security by building our houses underground —— in new， manmade caves？

    It may not seem a palatable suggestion， at first though. We have so many evil associations with the underground. In our myths and legends， the underground is the realm of evil spirits and of the dead， and is often the location of an afterlife of torment. （This may be because dead bodies are buried underground， and because volcanic eruptions make the underground appear to be a hellish place of fire and noxious gases.）

    Yet there are advantages to underground life， too， and something to be said for imagining whole cities， even mankind generally， moving downward； of having the outermost mile of the Earth's crust honeycombed with passages and structures， like a gigantic ant hill.

    First， weather would no longer be important， since， it is primarily a phenomenon of the atmosphere. Rain， snow， sleet， fog would not trouble the underground world. Even temperature variations are limited to the open surface and would not exist underground. Whether day or night， summer or winter， temperatures in the underground world remain equable and nearly constant. The vast amounts of energy now expended in warming our surface surroundings when they are too cold， and cooling them when they are too warm， could be saved. The damage done to manmade structures and to human beings by weather would be gone. Transportation over local distances would be simplified. （Earthquakes would remain a danger， of course.）

    Second， local time would no longer be important. On the surface， the tyranny of day and night cannot be avoided， and when it is morning in one place， it is noon in another， evening in still another and midnight in yet another. The rhythm of human life therefore varies from place to place. Underground， where there is no externally produced day， but only perpetual darkness， it would be arificial lighting that produces the day and this could be adjusted to suit man's convenience.

    The whole world could be on eight-hour shifts， starting and ending on the stroke everywhere， at least as far as business and community endeavors were concerned. This could be important in a freely mobile world. Air transportation over long distances would no longer have entail "jet lag." Individuals landing on another coast or another continent would find the society they reached geared to the same time of day as at home.

    Third， the ecological structure could be stabilized. To a certain extent， mankind encumbers the Earth. It is not only his enormous numbers that take up room； more so， it is all the structures he builds to house himself and his machines， to make possible his transportation and communication， to offer him rest and recreation. All these things distort the wild， depriving many species of plants and animals of their natural habitat —— and sometimes， involuntarily， favoring a few， such as rats and roaches.