[ExI] Making a billion people smarter on the cheap.

[melancholy aeon]

I saw one study that estimated the worth of each IQ point in productivity to
be US$14.5K. Spending the tiny sum to ensure all people have iodized salt
would add
*$1.45 × 1013*wow! to the globe's economic pie. Clearly it is one of the
best and easiest things to do to aid humanity overall.

On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 6:03 AM, Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 11:06 PM, Belva Plain <sockpuppet99 at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
> > but iodizing salt sounds like a good way to go for people whose diets
> > include salt.
>
> Marginal point, I remember to have been surprised once that "salt" as
> in "salt and pepper" is both the most ancient and widespread drug in
> human history.
>
> While it does not have any psycholectic effect to speak of, its
> addition to food and some beverages does not correspond to any actual
> physiological requirement, and yet its use extends across all human
> cultures and history (and beyond: see the chimp "technology" of
> washing potatoes in sea water).
>
> Stefano Vaj
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