Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Terrifying Potential of 5G

newyorker.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 76 posts

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#31

Post by agumonkey »

linuxboxer wrote: post #5

“The new 5G wireless technology involves millimeter waves (extremely high frequencies) producing photons of much greater energy than even 4G and WiFi. Allowing this technology to be used without proving its safety is reckless in the extreme, as the millimeter waves are known to have a profound effect on all parts of the human body.” -Prof. Trevor Marshall, Director Autoimmunity Research Foundation, California

it's gonna be fun to see if people are affraid of 5G or if microwave oven and 2G will keep their spot on the podium

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#32

Post by agumonkey »

m0zg wrote: post #9

I'll tell you more. Earth is heated by an ongoing nuclear fusion reaction which emits a wide spectrum of radiation between 430-770THz. The radiation density during daytime is about 1KW/m^2, and some of it is proven to directly cause cancer. Is that "terrifying" enough?

I heard research is making progress in bringing THz fusion radiation shields based on organic materials to the market.

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#33

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

m0zg wrote: post #9

I'll tell you more. Earth is heated by an ongoing nuclear fusion reaction which emits a wide spectrum of radiation between 430-770THz. The radiation density during daytime is about 1KW/m^2, and some of it is proven to directly cause cancer. Is that "terrifying" enough?

Comparing 5G to the dangers of sunlight, which is major public health issue, actually makes me somewhat hesitant to reject those fears, where before I would have filed it in the same category as chemtrails.

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#34

Post by r3bl »

lighteater wrote: post #15
m0zg wrote: post #9

I'll tell you more. Earth is heated by an ongoing nuclear fusion reaction which emits a wide spectrum of radiation between 430-770THz. The radiation density during daytime is about 1KW/m^2, and some of it is proven to directly cause cancer. Is that "terrifying" enough?

There's a new male contraceptive, it's called "keep your phone in your pocket, next to your balls". Now with 10x the dose!

There's no evidence that phones cause cancer (nor impotence). It's a reasonable assumption to make, but the evidence doesn't back it up:

> The only consistently recognized biological effect of radiofrequency radiation in humans is heating. The ability of microwave ovens to heat food is one example of this effect of radiofrequency radiation. Radiofrequency exposure from cell phone use does cause heating to the area of the body where a cell phone or other device is held (e.g., the ear and head). However, it is not sufficient to measurably increase body temperature. There are no other clearly established effects on the human body from radiofrequency radiation.

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/r...

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#35

Post by thaumasiotes »

linuxboxer wrote: post #5

“The new 5G wireless technology involves millimeter waves (extremely high frequencies) producing photons of much greater energy than even 4G and WiFi. Allowing this technology to be used without proving its safety is reckless in the extreme, as the millimeter waves are known to have a profound effect on all parts of the human body.” -Prof. Trevor Marshall, Director Autoimmunity Research Foundation, California

> millimeter waves (extremely high frequencies)

That sounds weird. It's a much higher frequency than "UHF" ("ultra high frequency"... radio), but the wavelength of red is over a thousand times shorter. I think of "high frequencies" as being UV and beyond.

https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/213/do-photocopy-m...

> Xerox machines absolutely ooze radiation

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#36

Post by thaumasiotes »

r3bl wrote: post #34
lighteater wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a new male contraceptive, it's called "keep your phone in your pocket, next to your balls". Now with 10x the dose!

There's no evidence that phones cause cancer (nor impotence). It's a reasonable assumption to make, but the evidence doesn't back it up: > The only consistently recognized biological effect of radiofrequency radiation in humans is heating. The ability of microwave ovens to heat food is one example of this effect of radiofrequency radiation. Radiofrequency exposure from cell phone use does cause heating to the area of…

To be fair, overheating your scrotum will in fact mess up your fertility. The need for temperature regulation is the whole reason we have them in the first place.

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#37

Post by m0zg »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #36
r3bl wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no evidence that phones cause cancer (nor impotence). It's a reasonable assumption to make, but the evidence doesn't back it up: > The only consistently recognized biological effect of radiofrequency radiation in humans is heating. The ability of microwave ovens to heat food is one example of this effect of radiofrequency radiation. Radiofrequency exposure from cell phone use does cause heating to the area of…

To be fair, overheating your scrotum will in fact mess up your fertility. The need for temperature regulation is the whole reason we have them in the first place.

The fix for that is to wear boxers though. Or not wear anything at all. Your phone is receiving most of the time. And when it transmits it does so very briefly and coalesces background transmissions into a single burst to conserve battery. There's just not enough transmit power to heat anything up, and even if there was, blood would carry the heat away quite readily.

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#38

Post by m0zg »

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #33
m0zg wrote: post #9

I'll tell you more. Earth is heated by an ongoing nuclear fusion reaction which emits a wide spectrum of radiation between 430-770THz. The radiation density during daytime is about 1KW/m^2, and some of it is proven to directly cause cancer. Is that "terrifying" enough?

Comparing 5G to the dangers of sunlight, which is major public health issue, actually makes me somewhat hesitant to reject those fears, where before I would have filed it in the same category as chemtrails.

5G is too low frequency to cause anything. The cancer-causing sunlight is in the ultraviolet range, and you need a ton of it for anything to happen.

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#39

Post by r3bl »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #36
r3bl wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no evidence that phones cause cancer (nor impotence). It's a reasonable assumption to make, but the evidence doesn't back it up: > The only consistently recognized biological effect of radiofrequency radiation in humans is heating. The ability of microwave ovens to heat food is one example of this effect of radiofrequency radiation. Radiofrequency exposure from cell phone use does cause heating to the area of…

To be fair, overheating your scrotum will in fact mess up your fertility. The need for temperature regulation is the whole reason we have them in the first place.

The majority of the power in a smartphone is used to light up the screen. If your phone is in your pocket, it's a reasonable assumption that the screen is turned off.

It's not impossible, but the phone would have to be quite inefficient to have any measurable effect. Laptops are probably a bigger problem if you keep them in your lap regularly, since in that scenario they do operate at full power close to your scrotum.

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#40

Post by jvanderbot »

0b0001 wrote: post #29
sytelus wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non-ionizing radiation does not mean harmless radiation. Low power radiation could be quite harmful when exposure in 24x7 for long term. Power levels reduces probability of DNA damage but if exposure is long term then it’s cumulative effect. People living near cell phone antennas have severe health issues and even phone companies don’t debate this. They are required to put health hazard warning around those antennas…

If you're talking to a person 1m away from you, both of you can whisper. If you're 50m away, both of you need to shout. It's similar to radio transmission. The closer some base station antenna is, the lower the power your smartphone needs to reach the base station. Having many base stations reduces the effective field power. Modern LTE and 5G also has something that is called beamforming. Instead of shouting in all d…

The base station transmits with higher power and much more frequently than your cell phone does (unless you are the only one served by the tower and tx more than rx for some reason). If you are concerned about radiation from telcom / cell, living near a base station is a bad idea.
Post reply on HN