4 ms·

> The fact that we can't pin down a strong effect on human health outcomes after decades of exposure should be a relief What kind of strong effect are you look

> The fact that we can't pin down a strong effect on human health outcomes after decades of exposure should be a relief What kind of strong effect are you looking for, immediate death? That fact isn't reassuring to me at all. There's a wide variety of increasingly common health conditions that have an unknown etiology -- ADHD, autism, CFS, IBS, mental illness, obesity, etc. The fact there isn't an immediately obvious health outcome is worrying because it just as likely has a wide reaching effect on a great many bodily systems, making it difficult or impossible to isolate exact consequences from varying exposure.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
timr 2y ago
> There's a wide variety of increasingly common health conditions that have an unknown etiology -- ADHD, autism, CFS, IBS, mental illness, obesity, etc. And the number of people named Killian corresponds well with the rise in incidents related to airbags: https://tylervigen.com/spurious/correlation/2599_popularity-of-the-first-name-killian_correlates-with_automotive-recalls-for-issues-with-the-air-bags https://tylervigen.com/spurious/correlation/2599_popularity-... You don't just get to pull random things that are going up (assuming that they're going up, which you haven't actually shown) and blame them on something else that is ostensibly going up. That doesn't suggest anything. Ever. [1] That is pretty sus, after all. Oh look, I just made MSCI's stock go up: https://tylervigen.com/spurious/correlation/1639_google-searches-for-that-is-sus_correlates-with_msci-incs-stock-price https://tylervigen.com/spurious/correlation/1639_google-sear... [1] But hey, waitaminute...violent crime is down since the 1970! Did microplastics do that, or does it only work for bad stuff?
- pton_xd 2y ago
  Taking a step back, my point was simply that there's a large number of common ailments that we don't understand. We don't know what causes them and we don't know how to cure them. Our understanding of human biology is grossly incomplete. We are nowhere close to first principles here. We also have a long history of introducing new compounds into the environment and then many decades later saying oops, turns out those are toxic. BPA and PFAs recently, to name a few. Where does that leave us? Who knows. I'm not saying microplastics are responsible for any of those diseases. I'm saying we don't really know what the hell is going on, so some alarm and caution seems appropriate. And, call me crazy, I'd say accidentally coating the planet with a new substance isn't a good thing. There is nothing reassuring about this situation.
  - XorNot 2y ago
    No no no, you don't get to point at "common ailments" and assume you've explained anything. What common ailments do you think we don't understand, don't know the causes of, or can't cure?
    - pton_xd 2y ago
      Go to your doctor with eczema and ask what the problem is. They won't know, and sorry there is no cure. Hell go to your doctor with a migraine -- good luck. Have a food allergy? That should be simple to explain and fix, right... well actually we can't. Maybe we can cure your asthma? Nope. We can't cure your diabetes either, sorry. Type 1? We don't know how you got that. Better hope you never have any auto-immune disorder or mental illness. Doctors won't be able to explain it or cure it. And hopefully you never got long Covid. Cross your fingers on cancer, alzheimers, and parkinsons. I could go on but I wonder, isn't our lack of understanding an obvious truth?

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

timr 2y ago

> There's a wide variety of increasingly common health conditions that have an unknown etiology -- ADHD, autism, CFS, IBS, mental illness, obesity, etc. And the number of people named Killian corresponds well with the rise in incidents related to airbags: https://tylervigen.com/spurious/correlation/2599_popularity-of-the-first-name-killian_correlates-with_automotive-recalls-for-issues-with-the-air-bags https://tylervigen.com/spurious/correlation/2599_popularity-... You don't just get to pull random things that are going up (assuming that they're going up, which you haven't actually shown) and blame them on something else that is ostensibly going up. That doesn't suggest anything. Ever. [1] That is pretty sus, after all. Oh look, I just made MSCI's stock go up: https://tylervigen.com/spurious/correlation/1639_google-searches-for-that-is-sus_correlates-with_msci-incs-stock-price https://tylervigen.com/spurious/correlation/1639_google-sear... [1] But hey, waitaminute...violent crime is down since the 1970! Did microplastics do that, or does it only work for bad stuff?

pton_xd 2y ago
Taking a step back, my point was simply that there's a large number of common ailments that we don't understand. We don't know what causes them and we don't know how to cure them. Our understanding of human biology is grossly incomplete. We are nowhere close to first principles here. We also have a long history of introducing new compounds into the environment and then many decades later saying oops, turns out those are toxic. BPA and PFAs recently, to name a few. Where does that leave us? Who knows. I'm not saying microplastics are responsible for any of those diseases. I'm saying we don't really know what the hell is going on, so some alarm and caution seems appropriate. And, call me crazy, I'd say accidentally coating the planet with a new substance isn't a good thing. There is nothing reassuring about this situation.
- XorNot 2y ago
  No no no, you don't get to point at "common ailments" and assume you've explained anything. What common ailments do you think we don't understand, don't know the causes of, or can't cure?
  - pton_xd 2y ago
    Go to your doctor with eczema and ask what the problem is. They won't know, and sorry there is no cure. Hell go to your doctor with a migraine -- good luck. Have a food allergy? That should be simple to explain and fix, right... well actually we can't. Maybe we can cure your asthma? Nope. We can't cure your diabetes either, sorry. Type 1? We don't know how you got that. Better hope you never have any auto-immune disorder or mental illness. Doctors won't be able to explain it or cure it. And hopefully you never got long Covid. Cross your fingers on cancer, alzheimers, and parkinsons. I could go on but I wonder, isn't our lack of understanding an obvious truth?