Tobacco

People in Britain used to smoke a lot. And even people who didn't smoke would inhale a lot of cigarette smoke too. That doesn't happen any more.

We all know how bad smoking is for your body. Sure enough, in line with the decrease in smoking, we get better health outcomes. E.g., "For males, lung cancer AS incidence rates in the UK decreased by 31% between 1993-1995 and 2013-2015", says Cancer Research UK.

But what about nicotine? "Nicotine is frequently used for its performance-enhancing effects on cognition, alertness, and focus. A meta-analysis of 41 double-blind, placebo-controlled studies concluded that nicotine or smoking had significant positive effects on aspects of fine motor abilities, alerting and orienting attention, and episodic and working memory", says Wikipedia.

The UK population was widely exposed to a drug with life-shortening but cognition-enhancing effects. Just as we see the public health benefits of a decline in consumption of that drug, shouldn't we also see the public-cognition detriment?

Here's some evidence. "The IQ levels of young people have been steadily falling for the past few decades, according to new research. The decline is believed to have begun following the generation born in 1975, and indicates that the slow rise in intelligence observed over much of the 20th century has come to an end", says The Week, citing The Times. That "slow rise in intelligence" - in line with the slow increase in the prevalence of smoking, both active and passive?

We used to swim in a river of performance-enhancing drugs that has now slowed to a trickle. It's worth thinking about what that means. (and adding in changes in the amounts of alcohol and caffeine consumed as well). If you think that, say, political discourse has become more stupid, perhaps it's because people have become more stupid? Do you ever hanker after the days when sensible centrist policies came out of smoke-filled rooms? Perhaps the smoke in those rooms was doing an important job.