system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do different countries still use different electrical sockets? Is any one of them "the best"?

Bonus Question: Let's say I was building a secret underwater base in the middle of the.. erm some Ocean, and that I had equal access to each and every different socket type. Which would be the best choice considering I would have limited power generation capacities?
gpt
Well, there are several major categories of electrical sockets. It sounds like you're thinking of ordinary AC residential sockets, which range from about 100-240V. Higher voltages mean a higher risk of shorts (which can translate into more insulation required), but less current is needed to supply the same power, which lessens resistive heating. For most applications, it doesn't make a lot of difference; for especially high-power devices, you might want a higher voltage, which is why we Americans plug our stoves and dryers into special 220V outlets while the rest of our appliances take ordinary 110V power. As to which you should pick, use whatever the "local" standard is &mdash; whatever will be the least hassle to find appliances for.

However, a proper secret underwater base might have significantly larger "appliances", such as elevators, water pumps, or death rays. You would use different voltages and connections for such devices, such as 230/400V three-phase. Or, if you have a large number of machines requiring direct current (such as servers), you might want to supply them with that directly, rather than relying on individual power supplies per component.

What sort of activities do you expect that you will need to perform in this secret underwater base.