And I shouldn't have re-used the word 'manipulate'. No, humans cannot directly manipulate magnetic fields, and few enough of us can even directly detect them (I'm one of the exceptions, apparently. 8) ) But we can detect, direct, control, and use them through machinery. As long as the control mechanism on a lux device is physical, we can use them.
Bad example. Solar - or even supernova - events do not create large amounts of neutron flux, which is the only way to activate new radionuclides (it's not just metals, btw - all elements can do this. It's just that most elements are metals.) If you had enough radiation reaching ground level to create activated radionuclides, you'd be too dead to worry about cobalt-60 residuals later on, let alone what the effects on your comm systems were.Aurrin
....and then a solar event happens. Radiation pours from the sun in copious quantities that would make even a nuclear strategian blanche. The atmosphere does the bulk of the work of shielding, true enough. But what does escape finds its way to the surface and irradiates the people badly. Now, radiation is survivable, to some extent. But radiation also has a peculiar property with metals. When encountering the heavy nuclei of those atoms, it tends to knock out one or two. This results in much deadlier neutron radiation, and sometimes produces radioactive metals that then further irradiate the people nearby. Hundreds of thousands die instead of only thousands.
It's a long story.) A measurable and easily-manipulated alternative to electricity might come in very handy. I don't understand all of the aspects of Lux (especially when it comes to "supernatural" stuff like wights or shadowrats or heart-runes) , but just looking at it as energy, I bet we could use it to make a "cold" processor chip, which doesn't generate nearly as much heat. That's assuming that we would use solid materials to divert and process the lux (like silicon for electricity). From what I've seen in the comics, it's my guess that lux is always "broadcast" from some solid object or person. So, the shortcuts we come up with might not be infinite, but they'll be nice nonetheless.
