[ExI] How the world collapses

[Anders Sandberg]

William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com> , 17/5/2014 11:01 PM:
Why aren't you guys worried about chemicals?  We are walking around with over 50 chemicals in our bodies that weren't there when we were born.
Just 50? You must be living in some Antarctic nature preserve. 
But 'chemicals' range from the rather benign artificial sulphur hexafluoride to natural potent carcinogens like aflatoxins. From essential and poisonous selenium to barbiturates produced as drugs or part of our natural biochemistry. The real question must always be if they are harming us appreciably: worrying about them *all* is irrational.
When it comes to health, it is worth noticing that the healthspan of people in developed countries (where we likely have the richest mix of molecules) is increasing and far better than in counties where we can expect a more 'natural' environment. Part of this is obviously trade-offs; avoiding parasites and infections might help more than bad effects from pollutants. Part of it is also getting rid of nasties like tobacco smoke, lead or DDT. But I suspect that there are few chemicals around that have effects on our health comparable to the old nasties; we certainly worry about oestrogen-like substances, but their harms have proven rather elusive despite decades of investigation (and we ingest plenty of phyto-oestrogens too). A lot of things may be carcinogenic, but cancer incidence is largely declining. 
That doesn't stop people from obsessing about chemicals. But most responses I see are more like attempts of achieving ritual purity (often using traditional methods bolstered with a pinch of pseudoscience) or jumping from fashion to fashion (aspartame! bisphenol-A! manganese! vaccines! benzene in soft drinks! acrylamide in fried food!) rather than aiming for health.
My liver enzymes are currently happily chewing up ethanol, modafinil, caffeine and arsenobetaine - chemicals that may have some bad effects on me, but also have useful effects (or, in the case of arsenobetaine, just come with good natural seafood).
Anders Sandberg, Future of Humanity Institute Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University
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