80
Could microplastics be eroding empathy in human brains? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 day ago by Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works to c/showerthoughts@sh.itjust.works
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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

top 23 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Salvo@aussie.zone 12 points 1 day ago

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@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

Oh now that's a theory to conjure with!

[-] icerunner_origin@startrek.website 34 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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

[-] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 8 points 1 day 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?

[-] Neuromancer49@midwest.social 5 points 1 day 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@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Would have to use historical samples

[-] WraithGear@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

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

[-] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] WraithGear@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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_@sh.itjust.works 29 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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!

[-] Baggie@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 day ago

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

[-] riskable@programming.dev 12 points 1 day ago

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@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day 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

[-] atocci@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

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

[-] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago

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

[-] gofsckyourself@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] Salvo@aussie.zone -1 points 14 hours 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”.

[-] SGforce@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Organophosphates

Plastics probably affect hormones though.

[-] BlackLaZoR@fedia.io 2 points 1 day ago

Why empathy specifically? If it causes damage, then it's probably global

[-] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'm "trying" to link it to the recent rise of fascism. And general breakdown of society.

You have a point though, a rise in stupidity is part and parcel of the same phenomenon.

[-] BlackLaZoR@fedia.io 3 points 1 day ago

recent rise of fascism

I'd look for the reasons to back when fascism has risen in the first place in early 20th century

[-] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 3 points 1 day ago

I mean, we've seen plenty of authoritarianism and facism before plastic was invented, so that seems like a dubious notion

[-] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

That's why this is in showerthoughts rather than science

this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2024
80 points (90.0% liked)

ShowerThoughts

2004 readers
12 users here now

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

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
csm10495@sh.itjust.works