Power Amplification

Several species of small animals have evolved bio-mechanical power amplification to overcome the disadvantages of being small in a world dominated by bigness. Power amplification increases power beyond regular muscular levels through an elastic medium (e.g. tendons) able to catch and store large amounts of energy. The system must also include a latch, and a mechanism to undo it and allow the stored energy to be released instantly. The force is the same as a muscle would have provided, but the time it takes to use that force is much shorter, meaning it has a greater velocity and thus greater power: Frogs jump further and fleas jump higher than can be expected based on their size while mantis shrimp, chameleon, snipefish and trap-jaw spiders become quicker and more efficient predators.

In the 1967 article “Is there a better human size?” R.J. Hansen and M.J.Miley, two civil engineering professors from MIT foresee a times where “the engineered needs of society might be more succesfully provided for small man then for pre-small man.” even if “per capita energy consumption would be increased, through the desirability and possibility of substantially increased powers assists to man.” Perhaps we’ll need a bit more energy and power assistance while we’re waiting for biomechanical power amplification to evolve but let’s not forget that shrinking itself is also a power amplifyer. The decrease in body mass will be much greater than the decrease in muscle power, leading to an enormous relative increase in strength. We’ll feel like superheroes.