this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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I wonder if you could analyze internet discussions for an effect.

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[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago

I fucking believe it.

[–] doug@lemmy.today 19 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I’ve heard the climate crisis isn’t helping. More carbon dioxide in the air, the less we think good.

[–] General_Effort@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Can't tell if joke or ... gestures vaguely at post

[–] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This is one I feel is getting largely overlooked.

[–] A_A@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Present day atmosphere is about 400 or 450 PPM compare this to :

CO~2~ poisoning (Hypercapnia) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercapnia

→ Physiological effects :
A high arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide ( Pa CO~2~ ) causes changes in brain activity that adversely affect both fine muscular control and reasoning. EEG changes denoting minor narcotic effects can be detected for expired gas end tidal partial pressure of carbon dioxide (...) increase from ((53,000 PPM)) to approximately (...) (66,000 PPM = 0.066 atm). The diver does not necessarily notice these effects.

[–] General_Effort@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

So, for people who don't get the joke, a quick overview.

Atmospheric CO2 has increased from ~280 parts per million to ~430 ppm now. This causes problems besides global warming; notably ocean acidification. Scientists try to infer CO2 levels in the past from various indirect evidence. It seems that levels have not been this high in many millions of years, much longer than the existence of our or most other species.

That said, direct effects from these elevated CO2 levels are extremely implausible. We exhale CO2, meaning that indoor concentrations are typically much higher than these elevated atmospheric levels. On top of that, you have a lot of combustion, especially in cities. Cities have elevated CO2 concentrations compared to the surrounding area (think about smog). The northern hemisphere has higher concentrations than the southern one. The CO2 concentrations most of us live with have more to do with our immediate surroundings than global levels. Fun fact: Roadside grass can have a radiocarbon date of thousands of years.

The most iconic CO2 measurements (Keeling Curve) are taken on Hawaii, on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. I have heard that Elon and the felon are shutting that down now.

High CO2 levels can become a problem in badly ventilated places. CO2 is slightly heavier than air, so it can build up in wine cellars or cesspits. Fermentation creates the CO2. Typically, that kills more than 1 person. Person #1 goes down, passes out. Person #2 goes down to check on them.

[–] RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Summary The article describes a decline in human intelligence, particularly among young people. The decline is attributed to reducedk reading habits and the negative impact of excessive screen time on cognitive abilities.

[–] skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 day ago

Not really surprising given how all the social information delivery services are designed for a constant wall of short dopamine hits, and the platforms used to access the information are designed so no actual skill is needed to be able to access the information delivery services.

You give a rat a button that's tied into their brain's pleasure center, the rat will push the button until they die.

All computer-tech needs to be made more open. Not just from an observational standpoint, but the act of making disparate systems work together requires learning and knowledge beyond push button, receive good feels. Megacorp one-stop-shop software/hardware platforms need to be broken up. Both from a walled garden echo chamber perspective, and from a user-use perspective. When a company controls the entire experience, it is too easy to ensure their user is always engaging with their products and spending money/time. Making that company's life harder, makes the technology better for humanity.

Algorithms optimized for dopamine hits must be banned. As soon as our machines became revenue generators tuned for consumption, it was game over. Older systems, one used to have to learn at least basic things to accomplish a goal, which promoted the act of learning in general.

Basic hardware/software interaction and learning were useful side-effects of personal compute from the 1970s-early aughts. One was forced to occasionally open or fix hardware, one was forced to understand how the software worked. One ended up with basic understanding and approachability of the machines one used. Devices today are just expensive consumption toys with zero knowledge needed to consume. When they malfunction, the user has no reason or encouragement to attempt to fix them, as they can't see why the device ceased to work.

Big Tech has run amok too long. Governments are barely regulating them. We humans just gotta start saying no.

[–] vividspecter@lemm.ee 9 points 2 days ago

The FT source seems to be behind a paywall, and this article seems to be jumping between a bunch of possibly unrelated issues (focusing on young adult cognitive decline but looking at whole population reading rates and numeracy ability).

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago

I wouldn't worry about it .... it wasn't that high to begin with

I always remind my friends when we have political debates about so many things ... we aren't that many steps away from the cave we emerged from 100,000 years ago

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Every generation will be more intelligent than the last, our exponentially complicating world requires it.

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