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

Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increase in violent crime

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 241 posts

Re: Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increase in violent crime

#221

Post by yearofthespider »

littlestymaar wrote: post #215
CamelCaseName wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And I do mind when laypersons are taught by mainstream media that this is science. What is your definition for "science"? To me, this is very much science. Starting off with a hypothesis, gathering/analyzing data, controlling for what you can, and concluding your findings with a number of caveats detailing the limitations of your research. Unfortunately, not everything is a hard science, and even those sciences we…

> I think your suggestion is rather dangerous and implies some arbitrary threshold where we become capable of studying something. The threshold isn't so much about when we become capable of "studying something" but more about when we become capable of claiming something . In that particular case, we have so many things at stakes, it becomes really tough to find anything useful. How can you know you're not measuring t…

You've already made clear that you feel that only things with extremely huge effects (ones noticeable by you, in particular) should be studied and all other research should be defunded. So who gives a shit what you have to say about this study?

Save everybody time and shut the fuck up.

Re: Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increase in violent crime

#222

Post by zamfi »

Bartweiss wrote: post #200
OJFord wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's crazy though, and makes the headline tamer than it need be doesn't it? 'Exposure to' makes me think it's more prolonged, and over time the effect is[...] but actually it's suggesting that it has a reversible, quickly reacting/short-term impact, which (naively) I find much more surprising. Relevant excerpt: > They find that a 10% increase in same-day exposure to PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns i…

Yes - for once the headline seems to have undersold the results. Reading the title, I was expecting this to be a long-term relationship, and to happen at extremely high levels of air pollution. Particularly since the study on China last year showing that exposure to PM2.5 has lasting cognitive effects, which found variation at levels far higher than anything found in the US. And ozone at approved levels (but not PM2.…

> extremely high levels of air pollution. Particularly since [...] exposure to PM2.5

Pun intended? If so, this was brilliant IMO!

Re: Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increase in violent crime

#224

Post by schainks »

codesushi42 wrote: post #136

If that is the case, why aren't major cities in China, or other major Asian cities like Singapore bastions of crime? Hint: they aren't. They are in fact some of the safest places in the world, and on average have air pollution levels much higher than cities in the US, even dangerous ones! And yet look at all of the misinformation in the comments, as usual.

There is plenty of _undocumented_ violent crime in China, like domestic violence, for example.

Re: Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increase in violent crime

#225

Post by fludlight »

rhacker wrote: post #214
OJFord wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's crazy though, and makes the headline tamer than it need be doesn't it? 'Exposure to' makes me think it's more prolonged, and over time the effect is[...] but actually it's suggesting that it has a reversible, quickly reacting/short-term impact, which (naively) I find much more surprising. Relevant excerpt: > They find that a 10% increase in same-day exposure to PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns i…

10% increase PM2.5 means more cars, more cars means more road rage, more road rage correlates to violence. And even excluding road rage as the mechanism for violence, 10% more people doing actions all over the place can also just cause violence.

To better phrase your point:

density causes more interaction which causes more conflict.

Re: Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increase in violent crime

#227

Post by megaremote »

fludlight wrote: post #225
rhacker wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10% increase PM2.5 means more cars, more cars means more road rage, more road rage correlates to violence. And even excluding road rage as the mechanism for violence, 10% more people doing actions all over the place can also just cause violence.

To better phrase your point: density causes more interaction which causes more conflict.

Density of cars, not necessarily density of people.

Re: Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increase in violent crime

#228

Post by colordrops »

I grew up in a part of the US that some of the most polluted air in the country, back in the 70s and 80s. I recall waking up on a particularly clear day and being shocked by a mountain in the background, not realizing how close we lived to the mountains. I also recall feeling depressed about the continually yellow sky. While there may be a physiological effect of air pollution, I'm certain there is also a strong psychological effect, which could explain the immediate effects described in the article.

Re: Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increase in violent crime

#229

Post by kebman »

schainks wrote: post #224
codesushi42 wrote: post #136

If that is the case, why aren't major cities in China, or other major Asian cities like Singapore bastions of crime? Hint: they aren't. They are in fact some of the safest places in the world, and on average have air pollution levels much higher than cities in the US, even dangerous ones! And yet look at all of the misinformation in the comments, as usual.

There is plenty of _undocumented_ violent crime in China, like domestic violence, for example.

That's like saying that there's undocumented crime on the moon. You don't know that. But you have a theory that you most likely need more funding to look into. ;) On the other hand, if you have documentation to the contrary, I'll of course retract my own claim.

Re: Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increase in violent crime

#230

Post by codesushi42 »

schainks wrote: post #224
codesushi42 wrote: post #136

If that is the case, why aren't major cities in China, or other major Asian cities like Singapore bastions of crime? Hint: they aren't. They are in fact some of the safest places in the world, and on average have air pollution levels much higher than cities in the US, even dangerous ones! And yet look at all of the misinformation in the comments, as usual.

There is plenty of _undocumented_ violent crime in China, like domestic violence, for example.

Now you're getting all touchy feely instead of looking at the data.

Which is why this paper and most of the comments in this thread reek of falsities and unfounded bias. Which is the norm here now.

Hi dang.

Post reply on HN