There's a theory that leaded gasoline caused increased crime in the mid-20th century, by affecting childhood brain development.
-
There's a theory that leaded gasoline caused increased crime in the mid-20th century, by affecting childhood brain development. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis
You don't have to believe the theory to admit that it's worth discussing. The correlation is pretty strong - the crime rate graph closely tracks the lead exposure graph, but delayed by about 20 years.
-
There's a theory that leaded gasoline caused increased crime in the mid-20th century, by affecting childhood brain development. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis
You don't have to believe the theory to admit that it's worth discussing. The correlation is pretty strong - the crime rate graph closely tracks the lead exposure graph, but delayed by about 20 years.
If you ask social scientists about this theory they harrumph about how there isn't one single neat cause for crime. If you ask chemists, they say Oh my god, yes leaded gasoline obviously did that, how could we have been so stupid?
-
If you ask social scientists about this theory they harrumph about how there isn't one single neat cause for crime. If you ask chemists, they say Oh my god, yes leaded gasoline obviously did that, how could we have been so stupid?
Anyway. Looking around at the world today, I sometimes wonder if there's some substance we started introducing into our environment 20 or 30 years ago that causes brains to develop without empathy. Maybe fifty years from now, the chemists will be saying Oh my god, how could they have been so stupid as to use [substance] where kids could breathe it, drink it, play on it?
This thread might be about microplastics.
-
If you ask social scientists about this theory they harrumph about how there isn't one single neat cause for crime. If you ask chemists, they say Oh my god, yes leaded gasoline obviously did that, how could we have been so stupid?
@jef ugh, this right after seeing a reference to a new 'criminal predictor' tool. Yeah, how about we look at places likely to produce criminals and umm remove the lead paint, put in safe sidewalks & crosswalks & parks & libraries and hire locals to look after all that..
Oh the criminals weren't actually there after that? -
If you ask social scientists about this theory they harrumph about how there isn't one single neat cause for crime. If you ask chemists, they say Oh my god, yes leaded gasoline obviously did that, how could we have been so stupid?
@jef This, "no safe exposure level", and this graph. But you're right that it's not the only thing like this, just one of the more obvious ones.

-
Anyway. Looking around at the world today, I sometimes wonder if there's some substance we started introducing into our environment 20 or 30 years ago that causes brains to develop without empathy. Maybe fifty years from now, the chemists will be saying Oh my god, how could they have been so stupid as to use [substance] where kids could breathe it, drink it, play on it?
This thread might be about microplastics.
@jef Or (rolling out that old villain)... first person shooter games, popularized in the 1990s.
-
@jef Or (rolling out that old villain)... first person shooter games, popularized in the 1990s.
@BobHorowitz @jef On a similar note, may I propose “the internet”?
-
If you ask social scientists about this theory they harrumph about how there isn't one single neat cause for crime. If you ask chemists, they say Oh my god, yes leaded gasoline obviously did that, how could we have been so stupid?
@jef imagine how much smarter all of us could have been..
-
Anyway. Looking around at the world today, I sometimes wonder if there's some substance we started introducing into our environment 20 or 30 years ago that causes brains to develop without empathy. Maybe fifty years from now, the chemists will be saying Oh my god, how could they have been so stupid as to use [substance] where kids could breathe it, drink it, play on it?
This thread might be about microplastics.
@jef It’s billionaires. Billionaires are poison.
-
R relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topicR relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic