"Toxic atmosphere" definitely implies something that I don't seem to be finding in the actual paper. We regularly sit in environments that are 2-3x the levels of atmospheric CO2.
Also, was this paper AI written?
> "There is now a considerable body of published data showing impacts at levels < 1,000ppm CO2, although the effects of exposure remain controversial."
Which is followed by this, with the very AI "For example" that seems to mostly contradict that statement?
> "For example, one study found no impact of exposure to levels up to 15,000 ppm (Rodeheffer et al., 2018), however the study population was a group of highly trained US Navy submariners. Conversely, studies in young adults (Satish et al., 2012), office workers (Allen et al., 2016) and university staff/students (Snow et al., 2019) showed negative effects at CO2 levels as low as 950 ppm."
And then "Such studies are supported by assessment of CO2-induced changes in human brainwaves, measured by electroencephalography (EEG) combined with cognitive tests (reviewed in (Zhang et al., 2024)). Such studies show that exposure to CO2 between 1,000 and 2,500 ppm results in heightened brain activity."
"Such studies" ... "such studies". And these studies seem to contradict the proceeding statement even more?
One interesting thing in the paper that I didn't think of, is that our breathing mechanism is tied to CO2 levels. And therefore, higher CO2 levels (not atmospheric high, but artificially high during studies), can trigger panic attacks and general stress. A slow suffocation hallucination, kind of. Even when there's still sufficient oxygen, your body doesn't "measure" oxygen!
It's a factor in "shallow water blackout" a fairly common death for experienced swimmers. Caused by hyperventilating prior to a long breath hold flushing too much CO2 out of your blood, so your sense of needing to breathe is suppressed relative to your need for oxygen.
This is such a bad paper. They take the NHANES data, average it for all participants, don’t bother controlling for things that have far more direct relevance to individual bicarbonate levels (e.g. diabetes), and just assert that an observed correlation is causative.
Huh. If anything, complications of diabetes can lower serum bicarbonate, not increase it. Your analysis is therefore altogether irrelevant, also misleading.
As a software engineer, what can we do to help with anthropogenic emissions? I want to know how I can use my critical thinking to protect the future for us.
Its not a software problem or a technical issue. At this point, it’s a social issue. Incentives are misaligned and as a result we’ll burn every last molecule of hydrocarbons to generate shareholder value.
It is everyone's issue, a software engineer can write more efficient code, choose to work for the sustainable future, not for most if not all AI companies and not for blockchain companies.
Remember Jevon's Paradox: most of us instinctively look to improving efficiency. But when you do that, people just use more of the thing. Rewriting Python in Rust often won't mean less electricity used, it means your code will get run more.
For example, none of the improvements in combustion engine efficiency over the last 40 years have results in less gasoline being used, it resulted in bigger, more powerful cars and more driving of them.
Really the biggest lever is reducing human population growth and mandating renewables when they are workable, even if moderately less economically viable.
It's not a good idea because while one can avoid eating red meat, collagen hydrolysate is mainly obtainable only from bovine sources. Fishes are polluted. As one gets older, collagen becomes necessary for remaining healthy, and no synthetic amino acid mixture comes close in effect.
No thanks. I'd rather not get prion disease. Also:
1. Eating collagen supplements has not been established as a necessary dietary requirement. Your cells synthesize collagen from amino acids, with vitamin C serving as a required cofactor. Some trials report modest improvements in wrinkles, skin hydration, joint pain, or bone measures, but that supports collagen as an optional targeted supplement, not something everyone must consume to remain healthy.
2. Bovine is common, but commercial collagen also comes from porcine skin, chicken cartilage, fish skin/scales, and jellyfish. A randomized clinical trial, for example, used pork-skin collagen, while another tested fish-derived collagen. Actual collagen is animal-derived unless produced through recombinant biotechnology.
3. “No synthetic amino-acid mixture comes close in effect.” This lacks evidence. In a 2025 randomized double-blind study, participants received 30 g of collagen hydrolysate, a free-amino-acid mixture precisely matching collagen’s amino-acid profile, or placebo. Collagen and the amino-acid mixture produced similar blood amino-acid increases, and neither increased muscle connective-tissue protein synthesis versus placebo over six hours.
If I understand the literature correctly, there is no strong evidence in favor of collagen as a dietary supplement outside of a dose just before weight lifting, because without the exertion the amino acids in blood simply don't reach tendons and ligaments.
Build software that improves the situation. That could be monitoring that helps surface data, tools that help governments and industries manage their CO2 goals, AI systems that search for solutions that you then implement, social apps that help us manifest change, etc. This whole category is underserved because everyone just throws their hands up and says it’s unsolvable, governments problem, etc.
Edit: the only positive response in this thread and I get downvotes lmao what the hell people.
> the only positive response in this thread and I get downvotes lmao what the hell people.
Because it's not "positive", it's "techsolutionism", which at this point is basically a cult... let's keep shovelling more shit on the gigantic pile of shit and pray it gets smaller
Vote for candidates who support mitigations, contact legislators asking them to do so, at all levels of government. Live according to those policies and encourage others to do so.
Software is allowing industries to be so much smarter and efficient. Even without advanced systems, a 20€ smart switch allows my personal water boiler to turn on when solar and wind are so available that power prices go low or negative.
Software is allowing governments to provide services online, 24/7, making driving to their overly large buildings a thing of the past.
Software is changing the way companies work with their customers and suppliers, cutting business trips so much that airlines like United had to review their routes at some point.
Software allows more trains to run on a track, and improves cross border services in dense areas in Europe
Software developers who support open source initiative such as LineageOS, ChromeOS or lightweight Linux distributions allow to keep devices for longer when manufacturers and Microsoft would like you to buy new hardware.
Simulators allow new generations to fly cessnas or race cars on 1000 electrical watts at home, while video games allow kids to have fun together without racing cars on open roads like you used to do in rural areas
Look at your CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Panel) blood test results. It has a test named Carbon Dioxide. This test may have a reference range of 20-32 mmol/L. Subtract your value from the max value -- that's your leftover buffer as the atmospheric CO2 rises, although serious intermittent problems are risked at a level of 31 itself. There is a more specific blood gas test that only a hospital can perform.
Fwiw, my value reliably went down after I replaced citrate mineral supplements (calcium and magnesium) with glycinate capsules.
Should not be a surprise since we have know about CO2 Levels and fossil fuels for many decades.
The surprise is nothing was real was done. Compare what our generation did with this knowledge against the sacrifices the WW2 generation did. In WW2 many items were rationed in the US for the war effort, including gas.
We knew something had to be done to be done in the 70s, but did we sacrifice our lifestyle for the good of the world ? No, our self-centered generation pumped even more CO2 into the air and is continuing to do so. Our grandchildren will pay dearly for what we did and are doing in decades down the line.
I assume you mean boomers? Might time to stop blaming them, since at this point some of them are great-great-grandparents and the following generations do not seem to have shown any more appetite for changing course.
"Toxic atmosphere" definitely implies something that I don't seem to be finding in the actual paper. We regularly sit in environments that are 2-3x the levels of atmospheric CO2.
Also, was this paper AI written?
> "There is now a considerable body of published data showing impacts at levels < 1,000ppm CO2, although the effects of exposure remain controversial."
Which is followed by this, with the very AI "For example" that seems to mostly contradict that statement?
> "For example, one study found no impact of exposure to levels up to 15,000 ppm (Rodeheffer et al., 2018), however the study population was a group of highly trained US Navy submariners. Conversely, studies in young adults (Satish et al., 2012), office workers (Allen et al., 2016) and university staff/students (Snow et al., 2019) showed negative effects at CO2 levels as low as 950 ppm."
And then "Such studies are supported by assessment of CO2-induced changes in human brainwaves, measured by electroencephalography (EEG) combined with cognitive tests (reviewed in (Zhang et al., 2024)). Such studies show that exposure to CO2 between 1,000 and 2,500 ppm results in heightened brain activity."
"Such studies" ... "such studies". And these studies seem to contradict the proceeding statement even more?
Not saying the paper isn’t AI, but “for example” is an extremely commonly used phrase that you should not be using as an AI indicator
Nothing you say has any bearing on 24x7 high CO2 exposure. All the other studies concern with a limited time exposure.
Also, if you think "For example" is AI, then your ability to reason is highly compromised.
One interesting thing in the paper that I didn't think of, is that our breathing mechanism is tied to CO2 levels. And therefore, higher CO2 levels (not atmospheric high, but artificially high during studies), can trigger panic attacks and general stress. A slow suffocation hallucination, kind of. Even when there's still sufficient oxygen, your body doesn't "measure" oxygen!
I didn't know that!
It's a factor in "shallow water blackout" a fairly common death for experienced swimmers. Caused by hyperventilating prior to a long breath hold flushing too much CO2 out of your blood, so your sense of needing to breathe is suppressed relative to your need for oxygen.
This is the reason closed environments (e.g., space vehicles, submursibles, rebreathers) have CO2 scrubbers.
This is such a bad paper. They take the NHANES data, average it for all participants, don’t bother controlling for things that have far more direct relevance to individual bicarbonate levels (e.g. diabetes), and just assert that an observed correlation is causative.
Huh. If anything, complications of diabetes can lower serum bicarbonate, not increase it. Your analysis is therefore altogether irrelevant, also misleading.
No.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetic-keto...
What is wrong with you? Diabetic ketoacidosis causes low bicarbonate, not high. Your link doesn't look to say anything about it.
As a software engineer, what can we do to help with anthropogenic emissions? I want to know how I can use my critical thinking to protect the future for us.
Its not a software problem or a technical issue. At this point, it’s a social issue. Incentives are misaligned and as a result we’ll burn every last molecule of hydrocarbons to generate shareholder value.
It is everyone's issue, a software engineer can write more efficient code, choose to work for the sustainable future, not for most if not all AI companies and not for blockchain companies.
Become a monk. The solution is simple and not technical: Stop building and producing CO2
Remember Jevon's Paradox: most of us instinctively look to improving efficiency. But when you do that, people just use more of the thing. Rewriting Python in Rust often won't mean less electricity used, it means your code will get run more.
For example, none of the improvements in combustion engine efficiency over the last 40 years have results in less gasoline being used, it resulted in bigger, more powerful cars and more driving of them.
Really the biggest lever is reducing human population growth and mandating renewables when they are workable, even if moderately less economically viable.
prompt Mythos how to engineer a virus that spreads Alpha-gal syndrome and makes everyone on earth vegan. Instant 30% greenhouse gas reduction.
It's not a good idea because while one can avoid eating red meat, collagen hydrolysate is mainly obtainable only from bovine sources. Fishes are polluted. As one gets older, collagen becomes necessary for remaining healthy, and no synthetic amino acid mixture comes close in effect.
No thanks. I'd rather not get prion disease. Also:
1. Eating collagen supplements has not been established as a necessary dietary requirement. Your cells synthesize collagen from amino acids, with vitamin C serving as a required cofactor. Some trials report modest improvements in wrinkles, skin hydration, joint pain, or bone measures, but that supports collagen as an optional targeted supplement, not something everyone must consume to remain healthy.
2. Bovine is common, but commercial collagen also comes from porcine skin, chicken cartilage, fish skin/scales, and jellyfish. A randomized clinical trial, for example, used pork-skin collagen, while another tested fish-derived collagen. Actual collagen is animal-derived unless produced through recombinant biotechnology.
3. “No synthetic amino-acid mixture comes close in effect.” This lacks evidence. In a 2025 randomized double-blind study, participants received 30 g of collagen hydrolysate, a free-amino-acid mixture precisely matching collagen’s amino-acid profile, or placebo. Collagen and the amino-acid mixture produced similar blood amino-acid increases, and neither increased muscle connective-tissue protein synthesis versus placebo over six hours.
If I understand the literature correctly, there is no strong evidence in favor of collagen as a dietary supplement outside of a dose just before weight lifting, because without the exertion the amino acids in blood simply don't reach tendons and ligaments.
> Fishes are polluted
Wait until you learn how 99.9% of cows are treated lol
You may just be joking, but such a thing would be a crime against humanity.
The same thing anyone else can do: bomb an oil refinery.
Build software that improves the situation. That could be monitoring that helps surface data, tools that help governments and industries manage their CO2 goals, AI systems that search for solutions that you then implement, social apps that help us manifest change, etc. This whole category is underserved because everyone just throws their hands up and says it’s unsolvable, governments problem, etc.
Edit: the only positive response in this thread and I get downvotes lmao what the hell people.
> the only positive response in this thread and I get downvotes lmao what the hell people.
Because it's not "positive", it's "techsolutionism", which at this point is basically a cult... let's keep shovelling more shit on the gigantic pile of shit and pray it gets smaller
Vote for candidates who support mitigations, contact legislators asking them to do so, at all levels of government. Live according to those policies and encourage others to do so.
plant trees
Go take a flamegraph of your most expensive system and optimize the most expensive function
Work from home!
Software is allowing industries to be so much smarter and efficient. Even without advanced systems, a 20€ smart switch allows my personal water boiler to turn on when solar and wind are so available that power prices go low or negative.
Software is allowing governments to provide services online, 24/7, making driving to their overly large buildings a thing of the past.
Software is changing the way companies work with their customers and suppliers, cutting business trips so much that airlines like United had to review their routes at some point.
Software allows more trains to run on a track, and improves cross border services in dense areas in Europe
Software developers who support open source initiative such as LineageOS, ChromeOS or lightweight Linux distributions allow to keep devices for longer when manufacturers and Microsoft would like you to buy new hardware.
Simulators allow new generations to fly cessnas or race cars on 1000 electrical watts at home, while video games allow kids to have fun together without racing cars on open roads like you used to do in rural areas
Look at your CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Panel) blood test results. It has a test named Carbon Dioxide. This test may have a reference range of 20-32 mmol/L. Subtract your value from the max value -- that's your leftover buffer as the atmospheric CO2 rises, although serious intermittent problems are risked at a level of 31 itself. There is a more specific blood gas test that only a hospital can perform.
Fwiw, my value reliably went down after I replaced citrate mineral supplements (calcium and magnesium) with glycinate capsules.
Mine was 26 mmol/L yesterday, but the reference level is given as 22-29 by my lab, not 20-32.
+2 PPM per year currently at 400 dangerous at 1000, were all dead in 50 years. not sure on that math.
Who made that argument? It seems to have come entirely out of your own head for the sole purpose of you ridiculing it.
Should not be a surprise since we have know about CO2 Levels and fossil fuels for many decades.
The surprise is nothing was real was done. Compare what our generation did with this knowledge against the sacrifices the WW2 generation did. In WW2 many items were rationed in the US for the war effort, including gas.
We knew something had to be done to be done in the 70s, but did we sacrifice our lifestyle for the good of the world ? No, our self-centered generation pumped even more CO2 into the air and is continuing to do so. Our grandchildren will pay dearly for what we did and are doing in decades down the line.
I assume you mean boomers? Might time to stop blaming them, since at this point some of them are great-great-grandparents and the following generations do not seem to have shown any more appetite for changing course.