
The cognitive costs of air pollution - jseliger
https://patrickcollison.com/pollution
======
ghufran_syed
I think this is an important question to answer, but the shehab paper (the
first link) provides vertically no useful information. They didn't blind the
assessors carrying out the cognitive studies, which on its own invalidates
their conclusion. They also didn't randomize the ordering, but appear to have
"investigated for order effects", found "no statistically robust difference",
then proceeded to have every participant do the "post exposure" test second,
making it highly likely that fatigue alone could explain their effects. With
only 30 subjects, their tests for ordering effects are likely underpowered.

Also note that they did 11 different tests, but didn't appear to correct for
multiple comparisons [1]

This would be a really interesting problem to study, but you'd probably want
to look at academic performance in college students before and after transfer
between universities e.g urban vs rural (presuming you can measure differences
in pollution) between the two, you'd expect to see a relative drop in academic
performance going from rural to urban, now _that_ would worry me. But this
study is unhelpful.

[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_comparisons_problem](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_comparisons_problem)

~~~
pliny
Just want to say it's impossible to tell which paper you're referring to.

The first link on the page isn't a paper. The word shehab doesn't appear
anywhere on the page. The word shehab doesn't appear anywhere in the first
paper linked. The three quoted sentences / fragments you provide don't appear
anywhere in the first paper linked. I opened some of the papers and didn't see
any with n=30.

~~~
vonmoltke
Patrick quietly dropped the entire first paragraph in the examples list a few
hours ago:
[https://web.archive.org/web/diff/20191118190006/201911190530...](https://web.archive.org/web/diff/20191118190006/20191119053006/https://patrickcollison.com/pollution)

~~~
baxtr
Oh wow. I think that is a bad style. Once your article gets that discuss you
should not simply delete an entire paragraph but rather comment on it...

------
WalterBright
> "Exposure to CO2 and VOCs at levels found in conventional office buildings
> was associated with lower cognitive scores than those associated with levels
> of these compounds found in a Green building." – Allen et al 2016. The
> effect seems to kick in at around 1,000 ppm of CO2.

The last time this came up I bought a CO2 meter for my office. I was quite
surprised how often it went over 1,000. Outside air runs around 450.

I increased the duty cycle of the house fan, and open a window when it reaches
800. Right now I'm at 505.

Buying the meter was a really good investment.

~~~
gwern
Previous discussions on HN debating the Allen result among others:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14738010](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14738010)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21237875](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21237875)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18959796](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18959796)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19845029](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19845029)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14738010](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14738010)
[http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/nk0/what_is_up_with_car...](http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/nk0/what_is_up_with_carbon_dioxide_and_cognition_an/)

~~~
JohnBooty
In the comments on that lesswrong post from a few years back, you raised a
good question that is perhaps easily answered:

    
    
        it has the same issue as Kurzban's blood-glucose/willpower
        criticism: if the brain needs more oxygen than it's getting
        why doesn't one simply breath a little more? While sedentary
        during these sorts of tasks, you have far more breathing
        capacity than you should need
    

Seems quite likely (or at least very possible) that we've outpaced evolution
here, right?

Prior to the industrial revolution, seems our bodies would never have needed
to adapt to a rapid spike in environmental CO2 levels. Our brains are
necessarily good at signaling the body when they need more oxygen; they're not
necessarily good at realizing when they're dealing with other issues they're
not adapted to react to.

I believe there may be a common misunderstanding the relationship between CO2
levels and oxygen in one's body, at least as it was explained to me by doctors
during my mom's struggles with COPD.

Blood oxygen saturation levels and CO2 levels are not inversely correlated.
One of the problems with late-stage COPD and reduced lung function is that
while it's relatively easy to get a person's oxygen levels up (just administer
oxygen!) they still suffer the effects of excess CO2 in the blood. A late
stage COPD sufferer can have > 95% O2 saturation in their bloodstream and
still suffer the other effects (including cognitive issues) that result from
the excess CO2.

(Apologies for responding you wrote four years ago)

------
yagurastation
Anyone interested should also check out the open source citizen science
project [https://luftdaten.info/en/](https://luftdaten.info/en/)

Build your own inexpensive sensor, contribute to the global network. See also
[https://github.com/opendata-stuttgart](https://github.com/opendata-stuttgart)

~~~
Psychlist
It frustrates me that there are so many of these networks and they don't talk
to each other. I deliberately went with a system that measures multiple
values, but then I see other people going "we only measure one thing instead
of nine so our units cost half as much".

I should try to script at least my systems so they write into as many of the
open networks as I can manage.

[https://www.uradmonitor.com/](https://www.uradmonitor.com/)

~~~
yagurastation
Unfortunately, yes, the space is fragmented. A long while ago I chose
[https://luftdaten.info/en/](https://luftdaten.info/en/) because sensor
firmware, DB, and tools are truly open source (GPL, ODbL, MIT). Next to
supporting many sensors, it also allows for your own back-ends (API,
InfluxDB). The community is awesome and has hacker values.

The inexpensive part makes citizen science viable in sub-economic and hobbyist
settings.

[https://openaq.org/](https://openaq.org/) is trying to consolidate air
quality data, but I'm uncertain of their licensing and goals.

------
734129837261
From Western Europe I moved to Mexico City. I work and live here now, and this
city suffers intense amounts of pollution almost every day. When you take an
Uber somewhere they all drive with their windows open (airco's are expensive
to run) and you get the full blast of diesel trucks and older cars' fumes.

I came here for a girl. I'm leaving because of pollution. The city is amazing
in its own right, but I feel like I'm breathing lung cancer.

~~~
zachkatz
Damn, I’m about to go to Mexico City—was planning to stay for a few months,
but I hate dirty air. Is it like that all over the city, or just certain
parts?

~~~
josu
It's definitely better/worse in some areas. Condesa is probably your best
option.

~~~
zachkatz
Cool, that’s where I’ll be staying. That’s reassuring.

------
QuanticSausage
I don't know you, but in every lecture in college that was done in a room with
no air flow, I got distracted every five minutes or so. If the proportion of
C02 had a cognitive effect that I could feel, then I wouldn't be surprised if
other kinds of contaminants do the same.

~~~
ketzo
Can’t find a source, but there’s a similar thing with long meetings — after
two hours in a conference room, you’ve added enough CO2 to affect cognitive
function.

~~~
lekanwang
I think you may be referring to this publication:
[https://energyanalysis.lbl.gov/publications/co2-indoor-
pollu...](https://energyanalysis.lbl.gov/publications/co2-indoor-pollutant-
higher-levels)

------
beilabs
This is fantastic stuff. Some personal anecdotes, moving from Ireland to a
heavily industrialized city in Northern China definitely felt like a kick to
the head to my output.

I've felt similar effects since moving from Sydney to Kathmandu. Looking
forward to my eventual move back to Ireland in the coming years not only for
my own health but for that of my children. Unfortunately Kathmandu is going
down the path of major Indian cities; there are improvements but the lack of
oversight on construction / dust as well as older vehicles with poor fuel
makes for a lethal combination causing a dust bowl effect.

------
rahuldottech
This really bothers me. I live in a _VERY_ polluted place, and unfortunately
moving away won't be an option for me for at least half a decade. What can I
do to minimise the health effects of such an atmosphere? I'm planning on
getting an indoor air filter for my home.

~~~
cameldrv
Buy a cheap PM detector (There are a few on Amazon using the Plantower sensor
that are ~$50.) Buy any HEPA air filter for your home. Buy the best cabin air
filter you can for your car (Bosch makes HEPA filters for some cars), and try
to get your office to install something, or just buy one for your desk.

The hard math of it is that no matter what you do, you aren't going to be able
to reduce your exposure by more than 75% or so, because you have to go outside
sometimes, so going super high end on filtration makes essentially no
difference in terms of total exposure.

~~~
CharlesColeman
> The hard math of it is that no matter what you do, you aren't going to be
> able to reduce your exposure by more than 75% or so, because you have to go
> outside sometimes, so going super high end on filtration makes essentially
> no difference in terms of total exposure.

Couldn't you get a mask for outdoor use?

[https://www.guidingtech.com/62349/whats-
difference-n95-n99-p...](https://www.guidingtech.com/62349/whats-
difference-n95-n99-p95-air-masks/)

~~~
cameldrv
Sure, but what about when you eat? What about when you're exercising? My point
is that caring much about filtration efficiency quickly stops mattering after
you've done the obvious things, because there are simply going to be times
where you're not breathing filtered air, and those will very quickly become
your main source of exposure.

This also means that if you feel like you need to get a mask, you should
probably get the most comfortable, least restrictive one, even with a worse
rating because (say) 90% filtration all the time is better than 99% filtration
80% of the time (if the discomfort causes you to take it off 20% of the time)

------
robbiep
I don’t believe the nature study results presented there. The MMSE is such a
basic test that it is almost impossible to score less than full marks unless
you are cognitively impaired. I’ve run through it hundreds of times with
patients. The other tests are more cognitively demanding. Looking at the Table
1 of that nature study, there appears as if there would be a significant
difference in the distribution of ages - couple extra older people in one of
the study groups. I think this is a false positive result

------
pmart123
Reading his bullet points, I am not sure why the correlation between daily
stock market returns and air quality supports the argument that air pollution
reduces IQ.

~~~
PeterisP
One hypothesis is that part of the short-term stock movements is causing about
publicly visible stupid acts, causing either physical or PR disasters of
various sizes. That would imply _some_ correlation, but a relatively small
one.

~~~
pmart123
Many if not most trading decisions are not executed from a NYC office. The
exchange servers aren’t in NYC either, but like that matters.

------
Scene_Cast2
How do you all monitor air quality?

I personally have a couple of devices (an Awair and a Flow). They seem to
under-report PM2.5 compared to purpleair, airnow, and waqi.

~~~
yissp
Do you act on this information? Is there really much you can do to mitigate
the effects?

~~~
CharlesColeman
> Do you act on this information? Is there really much you can do to mitigate
> the effects?

Couldn't you run a HEPA filter to reduce the particulates?

[https://phys.org/news/2018-09-indoor-hepa-filters-
significan...](https://phys.org/news/2018-09-indoor-hepa-filters-
significantly-pollution.html)

------
acd
Most small particles are bad for health.

Small particle emissions can be anything, diesel cars emissions, stone dust
and flour from bakeries. All small particles are bad for the lungs. Long term
exposure of air pollution will lead to health problems.

~~~
geomark
Although all small particles are bad for the lungs, there must be a difference
in their effects on brain and organs, depending on what those small particles
are made of since PM 2.5 particles pass through lung lining and into the blood
to be distributed around the body.

------
rbavocadotree
From the original source:

> Stock market returns are lower on polluted days.

I don't want to dismiss the entire article, but I think this points to
possibility that there is some bad statistics going on here. I don't see how
daily stock returns are proof of, or even related to, cognitive ability on a
daily basis.

This is exactly the type of finding you'd expect with p-hacking.

~~~
lazyjones
This is probably just a coincidence. Stock markets perform lower on Mondays:
[https://www.macroption.com/stock-market-performance-
volatili...](https://www.macroption.com/stock-market-performance-volatility-
day-of-week-1307/)

Traffic is probably generally higher on Mondays, though I have only anecdotal
evidence.

~~~
ajross
Heh, a rare example of the "proof of correlation isn't proof of the _absence_
of causation" fallacy. No reason that stock markets couldn't perform worse on
Mondays because of the extra traffic pollution.

~~~
jjeaff
But it's not like companies provide daily sales performance data to trade on.
Markets move on speculation. They aren't actually pegged to company
performance.

How would lower cognitive ability make markets move lower on a daily basis?
All I can think is higher pollution creating greater pessimism among traders.

~~~
ajross
Markets aren't perfectly efficient. Some trades are dumb. People with lower
cognitive ability are more likely to place an order and forget to check
fundamentals first, forget to check competitor data, or quiet frankly make
whopper mistakes like confusing a ticker symbol. Think of the loons you see on
/r/wallstreetbets and other spots. They live on a spectrum, and all of us have
bad days.

People with impaired cognitive ability are more likely to make dumb mistakes.
That seems pretty obvious to me. The only question is whether or not the
effect is large enough to measure using a coarse statistic like this, but
that's a quantitative argument.

~~~
jjeaff
Yes, but for most dumb trades, there is someone on the other end making a
deal. So the 'dumb' trades would have to lean more towards selling rather than
buying.

Perhaps pollution just makes one more pessimistic and therefore bearish.

------
bryanmgreen
I wish the argument against pollution would be the simplest one.

Go to a massively unpopulated area and just breath. Feel the difference? Isn't
it intoxicating?

Who gives a crap if umpires make worse calls? Just fight pollution because
it's _obvious_ pollution is bad for humans and the planet.

Normally I'm all for extra evidence, but in a situation like this come on.
It's basically like immaterial evidence against genocide by saying, I don't
know, saying the increased production of bullets to commit genocide reduces
national science and health budgets by 12% (fake stat just for context). Who
cares! _It 's just plain bad._

/rant

(ps - rant isn't against the article, but a broader frustration about the
topic)

~~~
dmos62
I like thinking of it as waste, as opposed to bad. Good-bad is the moral
realm. Waste is the realm of practicality. The danger is in causing
defensiveness, due to judgment, in people whose open-mindedness would be
beneficial. I'm not being apologetic of anyone. It's just that this doesn't
have to happen through a dramatic conflict of good v. evil (which probably
wouldn't work anyway); there are much better alternatives.

I agree with everything you said. Just wanted to stack my rant on yours there.

~~~
licebmi__at__
I would like to agree with you as I also think trying to find a pragmatic
solution is easier than thinking in abstract terms like good/bad, but
ultimately waste just takes us to questions about what is being wasted, and
wasteful to who. It's a no brainer than relocating to somewhere to avoid
emissions can be seen as wasteful for some industries. Besides, framing waste
in purely monetary terms, just means that we need to balance the equation for
profit, not to what is best for people. The question of alignment between
profit and human welfare is still am ethical one.

You haven't reduced the complexity, just hidden it behind the facade of taking
"pragmatic economic decisions".

~~~
dmos62
I'd argue that talking about waste exposes the complexity (reality in simpler
terms), while ethics or morals obscure it.

When I say waste, I mean the waste in the widest sense: potential, future,
life, etc.

For what it's worth, since you mention it, I don't think that capitalism isn't
compatible with an ecological society. It's just that if you're gonna replace
all values with a price tag, you have to be accurate with your pricing. For
example, the price of diesel has to reflect, among other things, the full
effect on the environment.

------
larnmar
If the effect were present, and as large as implied, you’d expect low IQ test
results in ultra-polluted Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Beijing. And
yet... [http://www.city-data.com/forum/world/2348902-china-iq-map-
pr...](http://www.city-data.com/forum/world/2348902-china-iq-map-
provinces-8-10-a.html)

~~~
ErikAugust
Pardon my ignorance, but how is this IQ data obtained? It is reported by the
government? Are IQ tests standardized?

~~~
learc83
>IQ tests standardized?

IQ tests can't be standardized across cultures. Even something like Raven's
Progressive Matrices has a cultural component.
[https://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligence](https://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligence)

Also China has some issues with the way they report scholastic achievement
that make their results appear higher than they should. China is very
selective about which students take standardized tests that are used for
global comparisons--they aren't random samples.

~~~
kingkawn
Seems hilarious to assume they can be standardized within a culture too,
whatever a culture may be.

~~~
cookiecaper
Yeah, the reality is that you'll never be able to get reliable/unadulterated
data on something that is both as personally impactful and as loosely defined
as "intelligence". Everyone is going to bias toward interpreting the mode of
thought that is most similar to their own as the definition of "intelligent".

Very few adults are comfortable with the idea that any substantial group of
people are objectively more intelligent than themselves, because admitting
that comes uncomfortably close to relinquishing autonomy, at least in
contemporary Western understanding that says the more intelligent should rule.

European history throughout the 20th century shows the horrifying, depraved
danger in capitulating to a ruling intelligentsia. We should earnestly hope
that no group allows their self-interest, protected by native instinct, to be
overridden by the despotic, unfeeling ideologies of "intelligent" rulership.
That philosophy has shown itself over and over again to be a quick route to
starvation, genocide, and widespread desolation.

Nevertheless, IQ is the most general/objective measurement we have, and it
seems to be a reasonably good approximation on aggregate.

~~~
svara
> European history throughout the 20th century shows the horrifying, depraved
> danger in capitulating to a ruling intelligentsia.

If you're referring to communism and national socialism here, those were
rabidly anti-intellectual (the later particularly so).

------
philshem
Recent Radiolab podcast talks about the one and maybe only benefit of IQ
testing is geographic screening of toxins. For example, lead paints and lead
as a fuel additive cause over a large sample a cumulative drop in IQ of 4
points. The statistics actually were the way this negative health effect was
discovered in 1979. Testing for lead in the body that has replaced calcium
isn't otherwise easy test (requires bone sample, or cleverly, kids' baby
teeth).

[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/g-pro...](https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/g-problem-
space)

------
calibas
I highly suspect toluene has something to do with it, seeing as how it's a
potent neurotoxin and a byproduct of burning fossil fuels.

------
amaurymartiny
There's a study[1] by Richard Muller from Berkeley Earth that proposes an
equivalence between air pollution and daily cigarettes smoked. He uses the
number of deaths caused by these 2 factors as a common denominator to
calculate the equivalence.

I believe cognitive cost would also be a good denominator. Something like "we
find that an increase of 10 µg/m³ raises the probability of a chess player
making an error by 1.5 percentage points. The same 1.5 percentage points would
be caused by smoking 2 cigarettes per day."

Plug: I'm the author of an open-source mobile app[2] which does this
pollution-cigarettes conversion. I think cigarettes gives a strong image of
air quality for those who are unfamiliar with AQI.

[1]: [http://berkeleyearth.org/air-pollution-and-cigarette-
equival...](http://berkeleyearth.org/air-pollution-and-cigarette-equivalence/)
[2]: [https://shootismoke.github.io/](https://shootismoke.github.io/)

------
olivermarks
So logically living and working in the countryside is optimum for your IQ
rather than polluted cities and areas?

~~~
electricslpnsld
The countryside can have some bad environmental problems too (expansion of
fracking in the rural Midwest of America, etc).

~~~
javagram
Does fracking cause much air pollution of the type discussed in the article? I
thought the main issue was groundwater and earth quakes , and methane gas
release / flaring.

Plus there are many countryside areas with no oil.

~~~
Scipio_Afri
Well to their point, there is more wood, brush or other similar types of
burning in rural areas. Especially wood in the US as it is the source of
heating homes in rural areas. Bonfires, etc are also more likely.

Whether or not that translates into more risk for your exposure to small
particles is probably related to where you are (e.g. are you inside the house
while the wood is burning, probably, so you are close to the source of it and
probably have a lot of small particles around your house that get brought in
every-time you open the door).

If its so rural that its just you for some distance then this might offset the
fact that your wood burning stove is (probably) not providing any sort of
filtering that a catalytic converter, control systems to more fully burn the
fuel (so there aren't as many byproducts), or other devices normally used to
remove byproducts of combustion. So it comes down to which of those byproducts
are most toxic to you comparatively to other forms of pollution, the density
of those particles and where you are in relation to them is going to determine
your daily exposure in your environment.

~~~
s_y_n_t_a_x
Pretty sure there's more smoke from forest fires near California cities than
smoke from brush fires in rural towns.

I don't know of anyone who uses a wood stove. Most would use natural gas,
propane, or electric. Electric is common until you get too far North, then
it's cheaper to get fuel.

It's very nice to live out here. You can see the stars and breathe fresh air.

Source: live in rural town.

------
mattjaynes
David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH of Rails fame) gave a great talk on this
recently, though he focused more on indoor air quality and its cognitive
impact:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRqh8oLY7Ik](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRqh8oLY7Ik)

~~~
hinkley
My takeaway from this: If you live in new construction (owner, or renter), buy
new furniture in the spring/fall when you can leave the windows open. Same for
paint.

------
thedudeabides5
Anyone seen analysis or similar data for noise pollution?

~~~
yagurastation
This open source air quality citizen *science project now also has noise
sensors going: [https://luftdaten.info/laermsensor-
bauen/](https://luftdaten.info/laermsensor-bauen/)

------
igor47
Plug: if you care about this topic and are interested in working on this
problem, we're hiring at Aclima. We've got contracts with the major air
quality regulators in California, and are looking to scale. Ping me at
igor@aclima.io

~~~
maelito
Do you work with [https://plumelabs.com](https://plumelabs.com) ?

------
sn41
I live in Northern India. On occasions when I visit cleaner countries like NZ,
Singapore etc. my productivity goes up. I thought this was because my
colleagues were absent. Maybe PM 2.5 is also to blame!!

------
mc3
Sydney is having a bad day :-(
[https://aqicn.org/city/sydney/](https://aqicn.org/city/sydney/)

~~~
seanmcdirmid
We would call 159 a clean air day in Beijing.

Forest and bush fires suck. Even Seattle air can smell bad when the wind blows
in smoke from a big forest fire up in BC.

~~~
mc3
Sydney radio loves comparing it to Beijing. Then reminding us that we've just
got that for a day.

------
tomaskafka
I have done some research into a budget home CO2/PM2.5/VOC sensor, and if you
don't mind sending data to China, Cleargrass Air has awesome functionality in
a nice design (plus mobile app) for about $130

[https://www.google.com/search?q=cleargrass+air&ie=UTF-8&oe=U...](https://www.google.com/search?q=cleargrass+air&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-
cz&client=safari)

------
w1nst0nsm1th
The study didn't show any example of possible influence regarding violent
behaviors. I read some times ago widespread violence in america in the second
half of the 20th century, especially in the 80', were related to lead
poisonning due to car exhaustion and water contamination through public lead
plumbery.

------
simonebrunozzi
I am looking for a very precise sensor to install at home. Any has experiences
with these (no affiliation whatsoever)?
[https://www2.purpleair.com/collections/air-quality-
sensors](https://www2.purpleair.com/collections/air-quality-sensors)

------
JesseAldridge
Here's a map of PM2.5 levels in San Francisco for those interested:
[https://hoodline.com/2015/04/should-you-be-worried-about-
air...](https://hoodline.com/2015/04/should-you-be-worried-about-air-
pollution-in-your-neighborhood)

------
jdkee
It has real physical health consequences as well.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London?wprov=s...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London?wprov=sfti1)

------
ultrasounder
Wow!. I just browsed through Patrick's reading list. NO wonder people who
actively follow him and know-him personally call him the "Most erudite Man" of
our times. Kinda like Umberto Eco from Black Swan.

------
ngeoozz
I just read the contamination levels of the River where I live next by (8º
worst polluted place in the world). Always <25.0 µg PM 2.5 and 55 µg PM 2.5 in
a lot of cases. This is highly depressing tbh.

------
gridlockd
All of these publications are junk science, nothing but spurious correlations,
using the nonsensical linear no-threshold model.

(waiting for the internet to correct me so I don't have to do any research
myself)

------
Wegiangb
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50467700](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50467700)

------
known
Poverty also reduces IQ by 13 points
[https://archive.is/bmj11](https://archive.is/bmj11)

~~~
larnmar
Has this study been replicated? It seems a lot like one of those terrible
“priming” studies that won’t.

Statistics aside, the experimental methodology is terrible. You ask a bunch of
people to think about being poor, or not, and that’s supposed to be a
simulation of being poor or not?

~~~
9dl
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experimen...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experiment)

> The replication suggested that economic background, rather than willpower,
> explained the other half

Yeah

And 250k/y "poor"

[https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/09/the-
sel...](https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/09/the-self-pity-of-
the-harvard-poor/63755/)

[https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/09/in-
defe...](https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/09/in-defense-of-
the-self-pitying-wealthy-poor/63777/)

------
digitalsushi
short of plants, i want to find a device i can put in my area that reduces the
co2 in the air. (my space doesn't support plants, it's too cold).

~~~
dheelus
There's a decent amount of research that indicates that indoor air quality
doesn't significantly improve with indoor plants.
[https://time.com/5105027/indoor-plants-air-
quality/](https://time.com/5105027/indoor-plants-air-quality/)

------
brenden2
This is blogspam. Here's the original post:
[https://patrickcollison.com/pollution](https://patrickcollison.com/pollution)

~~~
wizzwizz4
Should I upvote despite that, or wait for somebody to post the original? I'm
not sure of HN's norms here.

~~~
floatingatoll
You can upvote and also email the mods using the Contact link in the footer;
they can swap out links easily.

~~~
najarvg
Wasn't the original link already posted under -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21560916](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21560916)
yesterday?

------
dang
Url changed from
[https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/11/ai...](https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/11/air-
pollution-reduces-iq-a-lot.html), which points to this.

~~~
ng12
Things like this make it really hard to follow a discussion as it evolves over
time.

~~~
dang
Yes, there's some churn, though we do what we can to minimize it, e.g. posting
the URL change in the thread. But the benefit of switching to original or
better sources is greater than the cost of the churn. Discussions gradually
become higher-quality. Also, _not_ switching to original sources also creates
noise in the threads, e.g. complaints about blogspam.

------
PeterStuer
So does this mean we can now expect populist politicians to crank up PM2.5
emitters at a massive scale prior to elections?

~~~
WhompingWindows
You mean diesel engines? They're trying that in France.

~~~
SuperFerret
Rural America says Hi!

------
pkaye
I thought IQ was not a reliable measure of anything?

~~~
ytNumbers
I wouldn't call IQ a completely useless yardstick. Likely through examining
all of the evidence regarding IQ and military performance, the United States
government has come to the conclusion that an IQ below a certain level
disqualifies the person for military service.

Unsurprisingly, US law is a bit complicated on this, but to summarize, it
implies that an IQ below 81 (“tenth percentile”) is disqualifying, and
dictates that persons with IQ's between 81 and 93 (“thirty-first percentile”)
cannot comprise more than 20% of all enlistees.

------
mberning
I'm confused - is IQ a reliable way to measure intelligence between
individuals, or is it a culturally biased measure that is scientifically
bankrupt? I guess it depends on the context.

~~~
glofish
whatever skills IQ tests measure these do correlate (and better than other
readily measurable predictors) with various long term successes

what throws most people off is that the skill that IQ test measure is not a
just an innate ability but a learned skill that is in demand and often needed
for success in that society

