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The simple answers to the questions that get asked about every new technology:
Will [blank] make us all geniuses? No
Will [blank] make us all morons? No
Will [blank] destroy whole industries? Yes
Will [blank] make us more empathetic? No
Will [blank] make us less caring? No
Will teens use [blank] for sex? Yes
Were they going to have sex anyway? Yes
Will [blank] destroy music? No
Will [blank] destroy art? No
But can’t we go back to a time when- No
Will [blank] bring about world peace? No
Will [blank] cause widespread alienation by creating a world of empty experiences? We were already alienated
It made people violent, and crime rate went up like crazy.
Millions of people dying every year from heart attacks related to lead poisoning.
What is worse is it is still happening. Upwards of 5 million people are estimate to die from lead related cardiovascular disease in 2024. Lead poisoning mainly from gasoline has probably accounted for close to a billion deaths on the high end.
They only recently phased it out of cars with no plans to phase out airplanes.
Leaded avgas is only used for piston aircraft, and most countries use a grade that contains minimal and only for engines that require it.
I think the real issue is even though we have stopped a lot of the pollution our land was so thoroughly drenched in it activities as mundane as burning firewood release large amounts of lead.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/15/wood-burning-for-heat-reintroducing-lead-pollution-into-the-air-us-scientists-find
That means it is so blanketed that is going to take global scale remediation to solve the problem. That is mind bogglingly destructive levels of environmental degredation.