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The Man Who Accidentally Killed the Most People in History

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Great mini-documentary from Veritasium. I would dispute the “accidentally” part of the title—Midgely knew it was poisonous, but went ahead anyway for the sake of the almighty dollar.




Leaded gasoline killed an estimated 100 million people worldwide, reduced population IQs for generations, and dramatically increased violent crime rates.

Leaded gasoline wasn’t banned in the US until 1996.

Midgely also developed Freon, which destroyed the ozone layer.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Great mini-documentary from Veritasium. I would dispute the “accidentally” part of the title—Midgely knew it was poisonous, but went ahead anyway for the sake of the almighty dollar.




Leaded gasoline killed an estimated 100 million people worldwide, reduced population IQs for generations, and dramatically increased violent crime rates.

Leaded gasoline wasn’t banned in the US until 1996.

Midgely also developed Freon, which destroyed the ozone layer.

He also developed a series of pulleys and ropes to get around after being disabled by polio. He got tangled in them and strangled himself to death.
 
This channel is incredible. I watched this earlier, pretty crazy that someone thought using lead in gasoline was a good idea.

Edit. The Freon part was probably just bad luck.
 
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HoodWinked

Member
that's dumb they need to completely ban that shit from recreational use. only time that it should be used is in times of war.
 

Kilau

Member
I watched this last night and yeah it’s really good and upsetting. The Ben Franklin quote he references “You will observe with concern how long a useful truth may be known, and exist, before it is generally received and practiced on.” still sadly accurate.
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
For the life of me, I can’t figure out what these have to do with the topic. Especially the second one.
55bcc5c8-928b-4e81-8514-f3f746eeb0d5_text.gif
 

Catphish

Member
Great mini-documentary from Veritasium. I would dispute the “accidentally” part of the title—Midgely knew it was poisonous, but went ahead anyway for the sake of the almighty dollar.




Leaded gasoline killed an estimated 100 million people worldwide, reduced population IQs for generations, and dramatically increased violent crime rates.

Leaded gasoline wasn’t banned in the US until 1996.

Midgely also developed Freon, which destroyed the ozone layer.

I just watched it with my daughter. We both enjoyed it and learned from it. Thanks for posting it. (y)
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Bear in mind lead was used in making toy soldiers until 1966 (!)

100 years ago people were a lot less concerned about health and safety, so although its tempting to demonize scientists like MIdgely, their choices need to be judged within the perspectives of their time.
 

Blade2.0

Member
Bear in mind lead was used in making toy soldiers until 1966 (!)

100 years ago people were a lot less concerned about health and safety, so although its tempting to demonize scientists like MIdgely, their choices need to be judged within the perspectives of their time.
Why can't I judge the perspective of that time? Their perspective was shit and they should have cared more about it.
 
Why can't I judge the perspective of that time? Their perspective was shit and they should have cared more about it.
Because presuming we don't nuke ourselves to the stone age 100 years from now people will look upon us as the monsters we would judge those in the past as.
 

Redneckerz

Those long posts don't cover that red neck boy
since i refuse to believe any of you are actual humans, i'd say Tim Berners-Lee. Thanks to the World Wide Web, everyone is a robot now.

Beep. Boop.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I'm old enough to remember scraping leaded paint off of picnic tables before folks said it was bad and had several schools with asbestos.

Yay for toxic shit!
 

Fools idol

Banned
Asbestos is still legal in the USA.
You've got to be shitting me. That stuff is fucking lethal. My grandfather owned a small carpentry business and had a team of 5 people in 1988 they cut up 3 sheets of asbestos roof panel together in his garage.

10 years later in the 90's 4 of the 5 people died from Asbestosis, along with the wife of one of the guys who wasnt even actually there because she dry cleaned his clothes afterwards at home and breathed the fibres in too.

Living in the UK this shit is all around us, sheds and garage roofs, artex ceilings, walls, and even some hair dryers used to have it right up until the 90s.
 

Wildebeest

Member
You've got to be shitting me. That stuff is fucking lethal. My grandfather owned a small carpentry business and had a team of 5 people in 1988 they cut up 3 sheets of asbestos roof panel together in his garage.

10 years later in the 90's 4 of the 5 people died from Asbestosis, along with the wife of one of the guys who wasnt even actually there because she dry cleaned his clothes afterwards at home and breathed the fibres in too.

Living in the UK this shit is all around us, sheds and garage roofs, artex ceilings, walls, and even some hair dryers used to have it right up until the 90s.
Yeah, I was surprised when I looked it up. Apparently it is even legal to use a certain amount in brake pads for cars if you can believe it. Where do they think that goes when the pads wear down?
 

Fools idol

Banned
Yeah, I was surprised when I looked it up. Apparently it is even legal to use a certain amount in brake pads for cars if you can believe it. Where do they think that goes when the pads wear down?
I'm assuming you mean american cars.. Its been hard banned in europe for decades now
 

nush

Member
Bear in mind lead was used in making toy soldiers until 1966 (!)

My parents brought a victorian house in the late 80's, all the internal plumbing was lead pipes. They changed it all except for the main pipe that came off the outside mains water supply into the house because it actually ran under the house foundations. It's a wonder I'm still alive.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
My parents brought a victorian house in the late 80's, all the internal plumbing was lead pipes. They changed it all except for the main pipe that came off the outside mains water supply into the house because it actually ran under the house foundations. It's a wonder I'm still alive.
The Romans put lead in their wine. :messenger_bicep:

Though Rome did fall, after. May or may not be related.

:pie_thinking:
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Why can't I judge the perspective of that time? Their perspective was shit and they should have cared more about it.

Because looking at everything through a contemporary lens is wilful ignorance. And there is no mitigating or excusing that, whereas if the magnitude of the error is to some degree unknown due to the moral/political/scientific/sociological norms of the time...
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Jesus Christ and the guys in Blue October get my vote for most unintentional deaths.

I guess Mr. Freonz is a good choice, too, though.
 

akimbo009

Gold Member
Bear in mind lead was used in making toy soldiers until 1966 (!)

100 years ago people were a lot less concerned about health and safety, so although its tempting to demonize scientists like MIdgely, their choices need to be judged within the perspectives of their time.

My Warhammer/Games Workshop figures in the 1990s were made of lead. They shifted to Pewter probably around 1992 - 1994 time frame? I actually preferred the lead ones... but for the life of me can't remember why anymore ;)
 

Ionian

Member
You've got to be shitting me. That stuff is fucking lethal. My grandfather owned a small carpentry business and had a team of 5 people in 1988 they cut up 3 sheets of asbestos roof panel together in his garage.

10 years later in the 90's 4 of the 5 people died from Asbestosis, along with the wife of one of the guys who wasnt even actually there because she dry cleaned his clothes afterwards at home and breathed the fibres in too.

Living in the UK this shit is all around us, sheds and garage roofs, artex ceilings, walls, and even some hair dryers used to have it right up until the 90s.


Illegal in Ireland too. My Father had to change roofs, I helped. Shit gets in your lungs, I spit blood. I was young enough that I survived. My Farther did too. Local church is caked in it as well, although I ain't religious. They have fund raisers yearly for the roof.
 
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