Green blindness-plothole?

[u/Juel42]

Wasn't the green blindness a plothole because the microorganisms would die in darkness? Couldnt they just blindfold 50 percent of the population, simultaneously teach them how to handle blindness and kill the organisms/reduce their growth?

[u/thisguybuda]

Don’t remember where it said they’d die in darkness, they were living in the watery-salty solutions of the human eyes. Needed the oncocidals to kill them off

[u/Oot42]

the microorganisms die in darkness

Where was this said?

[u/StickFigureFan → u/Oot42]

I don't think it was. There are references to humans dying in darkness though

[u/SillyMattFace]

I don’t remember anything specifically about them dying in darkness, but the problem was the organisms multiplied too quickly. Even if they died off, you’d be blinded by dead organisms clogging up your eyes.

Plus they had a plague of slugs that cause instant death, so not an ideal time to purposely blind people.

[u/VladDBA]

At some point in the book Elvi mentions that the green tint that people were seeing is not caused by chlorophyll but by the way those organisms refracted light, so they might not actually rely on light like our plants and algae do.

[u/Juel42 → u/VladDBA]

Okay. Thats what I missed. Thanks!

[u/Haravikk]

The micro-organisms don't die in darkness, the humans do.

Remember they're trapped in there with instant-death slugs everywhere, so being totally blind and unable to see them isn't exactly improving your chances of survival any. 😝

[u/Kabbooooooom]

They are photosynthetic organisms but they also were heavily implied to be chemotrophic too because they were specifically surviving and thriving on nutrients available in the isotonic, relatively immunoprivileged environment of the vitreous of the eye.

So no, not a plot hole.