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Darshan Kalola's avatar

Excellent article, well-researched and argued. I try my best to limit exposure, knowing full well that I'm not sure how much of a difference I'm making, or whether microplastics are harmful or not. But until research comes in I think a good rule of thumb for most health related issues is to err on the side of caution, and to use first-principles intuition. For example, my gut tells me that microplastics are neutral or harmful, but likely not positive, because there is much less chance of accidently and unspecifically adding some component to a complex system and the complex system being improved as a result. A metaphor that comes to is that if you had a complex mechanical system, such as a jet engine, and somehow some material/particle accumulated at random points in the engine, the odds that the jet engine is improved in any desirable metric is likely 0, where the opposite has a real chance of occuring.

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