A human being, unaided by any tool, gets around quite efficiently. He or she carries one gram of his or her weight over a kilometer in ten minutes by expending 0.75 calories. A human on his or her feet is thermodynamically more efficient than any motorized vehicle and most animals. For his or her weight, he or she performs more work in locomotion than rats or oxen, less than horses or sturgeon. At this rate of efficiency humanity settled the world and made its history.
--Ivan Illich, Energy and Equity
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