this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2024
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ShowerThoughts

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Sometimes we have those little epiphanies in the shower.. sometimes they come from other places. This is a home for those epiphanies.

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It's not a crazier idea than most of Kennedy's. Someone should do a study. Or make one up, nobody checks anymore.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

The impact of micro plastics cannot be studied because there is no control group. Hard to say what microplastics do to the human brain when the researchers might find it hard to form a group without brain plastic

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago

Couldn't you still study populations with more or less plastic, even if "zero plastic" cant be found? Or is the amount of it more or less even across groups?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Throwing in my $0.02, a correlation study is technically an option, where you look at differences as microplastics increase in concentration. But. my instinct is you would see some really unfortunate covariance - that is, another variable that increases (or decreases) at the same time as microplastics and is known to impact your variable of interest, e.g. socioeconomic status.

[–] Mouselemming 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Would have to use historical samples

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The stressors and demands on people a single generation separate are so vastly different that it would not work.

[–] Mouselemming 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wouldn't work in a serious scientific study, no. You're absolutely correct. But since we're setting the bar of inquiry at Kennedy levels...?

I'm just trying to put aside my despair for a few minutes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I am having to admit that human kindness and empathy only extends to one and theirs and to all others only competition and hate, that is the hallmark of humanity. The greatest trick ever performed was convincing anyone that it was ever not thus.

[–] _haha_oh_wow_ 29 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It's probably doing all sorts of bad shit including lowering intelligence in general.

Oh guess what else lowers intelligence: Extreme heat and humidity!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago

I would like to think so, but humans historically have done some really uncomfortable shit ages before plastic turned up.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don’t think microplastics are having that effect.

It could just as likely be the decrease in airborne Lead following the removal of Lead Paint and TetraEthyl Lead in Petrol has caused people to be much more aggressive.

They still have the brain damage from growing up breathing in heavy metals, but no longer have the soporific effect of heavy metals.

[–] Mouselemming 2 points 2 weeks ago

Oh now that's a theory to conjure with!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I hate to break this to you but this shit level of empathy has been with humans for thousands of years. This is not a new phenomenon. It's not caused by microplastics.

What is new is empowering those without empathy to decide world leaders that have an obscene amount of power. That's a relatively new development for humanity.

[–] Mouselemming 6 points 2 weeks ago

Honestly, that's been around forever too, whether by votes or force of arms... Come to think of it, it's mostly the force of wealth and always has been.

The love of money is the root of all evil etc

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

Probably. There has to be something going on, right? Microplastics are as good a guess as anything else.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Y'all really gonna come up with every excuse for the DNC being garbage?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Regardless of how shitty the DNC is, it seems to defy logic that anyone could support Trump, and yet half of the US does. Because of that, I can see why someone might start thinking there must be some sort of external cause or something.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago

US self-entitlement.

the land of the free has always had a “more important than every other country” mindset which has infected their citizens with the same selfish mindset.

McCarthyism and subsequent witch-hunts have resulted in such an anti-socialist zeitgeist that it has morphed into an anti-social zeitgeist where any empathy for any other person is seen not only as a weakness, but as also being “Un-murikan”.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Organophosphates

Plastics probably affect hormones though.