3 ms·

Given how broad this effect, it seems like an amazingly good mechanism to attribute to a pet peeve of your choice: screen time, chemicals, lack of good old-fash

Given how broad this effect, it seems like an amazingly good mechanism to attribute to a pet peeve of your choice: screen time, chemicals, lack of good old-fashioned memorization, boring playgrounds/toys, lousy education, lack of exercise, the decline and fall of practically everything, etc. Couple that to a golden opportunity for older people to self-praise ("In my day we weren't as dumb/sheltered/poisoned as you folks") and you have the perfect storm. Making these fond arguments slightly more awkward is the fact that this effect doesn't seem to be happening in America, but I suppose all you youngsters lacked the attention span to read all the way to the end of the article. Now get the hell off my lawn.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
hyperpallium 8y ago
One day, in the far future, it will be discovered that ubiquitious plastic has profound but subtle effects on intelligence, fertility and general health. Amending that will be like moving out of the slow zone. The roman civilization used lead pipes for drinking water.
- jstanley 8y ago
  Despite the harmful effects of lead, the Roman civilisation might well have been better off for it anyway. Did they have access to a more suitable material that wasn't prohibitively expensive? (I legitimately don't know; maybe clay pipes would work?)
  - Qworg 8y ago
    Clay pipes did work. Lots of places in the empire had clay, even over long distances.
- freddie_mercury 8y ago
  > Scarborough wrote that Nriagu's basic premise couldn't be trusted because of sloppy work. He also concluded that the Romans were aware of the harm lead could cause, that lead poisoning wasn't endemic in their society and that Rome did not fall because of it. > Yet French researcher Hugo Delile and his team, reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2014, concluded that such concentrations were "unlikely to have been truly harmful." The group also claimed that enough criticism of Nriagu's theory had been amassed over three decades to largely debunk it. > "Lead is no longer seen as the prime culprit of Rome’s demise," Delile wrote.
  - madaxe_again 8y ago
    It wasn’t the pipes, it was the wine, which they sweetened with lead acetate. Delile’s paper only touches on water supply, rather than lead as a deliberate addition to diet.
- snovv_crash 8y ago
  The Romans used lead acetate to sweeten their wine. In comparison I don't think the lead pipes were a problem.
  - dvlsg 8y ago
    I suppose we could blame high fructose corn syrup, then.
- olavk 8y ago
  > The roman civilization used lead pipes for drinking water. True, but the theory that this affected public health is a myth.
  - Arbitrary4657 8y ago
    Do you have any supporting statements? I'm just curious.
wpietri 8y ago
Excellent point. I'm just going to get out in front of it and claim that nostalgia is the cause.
- Cthulhu_ 8y ago
  And ignoring how we have access to several orders of magnitude more knowledge, and not just 'we' as in 'we westerners' but all around the world, billions of people are getting connected to the internet and the vast array of knowledge (and cat pictures) that's available there. I don't know about people getting dumber, I'd argue people are getting broader in terms of knowledge (and inane knowledge, and cat pictures). However, overall as humanity we're growing in knowledge at an enormous rate, with financial measures like GDP to follow (see e.g. China whose GDP multiplied several times over in the past 30 years).
madaxe_again 8y ago
Well, one potential way that one could determine if this could yet be down to environmental contaminants would be to look at diet. Nordic and Northern European states have far more seafood, particularly bottom feeding seafood like plaice and sole, which are fantastic bioaccumulators of nastiness, in their diet than the average American [1] - and marine environments ultimately accumulate a large proportion of fun things like micro plastics, and therefore BPA and phthalates, which have been shown to have a negative impact on gestatory brain development. [2] It would be illuminating to see what correlation exists, as it may well be causative. [1] https://www.greenfacts.org/en/fisheries/figtableboxes/figure-42.htm https://www.greenfacts.org/en/fisheries/figtableboxes/figure... [2] https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/common-plastic-chemicals-affect-rat-brain-development https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/common-plastic-chemicals-aff...
- distances 8y ago
  Your link only shows total fish protein, not bottom feeders. Fish such as plaice and sole form a miniscule portion of the Nordic cuisine, and is mostly favored by older people anyway (anecdotal, don't have numbers).

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

hyperpallium 8y ago

One day, in the far future, it will be discovered that ubiquitious plastic has profound but subtle effects on intelligence, fertility and general health. Amending that will be like moving out of the slow zone. The roman civilization used lead pipes for drinking water.

jstanley 8y ago
Despite the harmful effects of lead, the Roman civilisation might well have been better off for it anyway. Did they have access to a more suitable material that wasn't prohibitively expensive? (I legitimately don't know; maybe clay pipes would work?)
- Qworg 8y ago
  Clay pipes did work. Lots of places in the empire had clay, even over long distances.
freddie_mercury 8y ago
> Scarborough wrote that Nriagu's basic premise couldn't be trusted because of sloppy work. He also concluded that the Romans were aware of the harm lead could cause, that lead poisoning wasn't endemic in their society and that Rome did not fall because of it. > Yet French researcher Hugo Delile and his team, reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2014, concluded that such concentrations were "unlikely to have been truly harmful." The group also claimed that enough criticism of Nriagu's theory had been amassed over three decades to largely debunk it. > "Lead is no longer seen as the prime culprit of Rome’s demise," Delile wrote.
- madaxe_again 8y ago
  It wasn’t the pipes, it was the wine, which they sweetened with lead acetate. Delile’s paper only touches on water supply, rather than lead as a deliberate addition to diet.
snovv_crash 8y ago
The Romans used lead acetate to sweeten their wine. In comparison I don't think the lead pipes were a problem.
- dvlsg 8y ago
  I suppose we could blame high fructose corn syrup, then.
olavk 8y ago
> The roman civilization used lead pipes for drinking water. True, but the theory that this affected public health is a myth.
- Arbitrary4657 8y ago
  Do you have any supporting statements? I'm just curious.

wpietri 8y ago

Excellent point. I'm just going to get out in front of it and claim that nostalgia is the cause.

Cthulhu_ 8y ago
And ignoring how we have access to several orders of magnitude more knowledge, and not just 'we' as in 'we westerners' but all around the world, billions of people are getting connected to the internet and the vast array of knowledge (and cat pictures) that's available there. I don't know about people getting dumber, I'd argue people are getting broader in terms of knowledge (and inane knowledge, and cat pictures). However, overall as humanity we're growing in knowledge at an enormous rate, with financial measures like GDP to follow (see e.g. China whose GDP multiplied several times over in the past 30 years).

madaxe_again 8y ago

Well, one potential way that one could determine if this could yet be down to environmental contaminants would be to look at diet. Nordic and Northern European states have far more seafood, particularly bottom feeding seafood like plaice and sole, which are fantastic bioaccumulators of nastiness, in their diet than the average American [1] - and marine environments ultimately accumulate a large proportion of fun things like micro plastics, and therefore BPA and phthalates, which have been shown to have a negative impact on gestatory brain development. [2] It would be illuminating to see what correlation exists, as it may well be causative. [1] https://www.greenfacts.org/en/fisheries/figtableboxes/figure-42.htm https://www.greenfacts.org/en/fisheries/figtableboxes/figure... [2] https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/common-plastic-chemicals-affect-rat-brain-development https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/common-plastic-chemicals-aff...

distances 8y ago
Your link only shows total fish protein, not bottom feeders. Fish such as plaice and sole form a miniscule portion of the Nordic cuisine, and is mostly favored by older people anyway (anecdotal, don't have numbers).