Apr 2020, phys.org
As a person who uses carbon dioxide levels to estimate indoor air quality, this projection is hard to believe -- Carbon dioxide levels are predicted to rise to almost 1,000 parts per million (ppm) by the year 2100, with indoor accumulation at 1,400 ppm.
It's hard to believe because today it's 400ppm outside. In 1900ish, it was 300ppm. But because we exhale carbon dioxide, it accumulates in spaces with poor ventilation. Today, if CO2 reaches 1,000ppm, we say there's something wrong with your ventilation system. In 2100, the entire planet will have a "ventilation problem," at least from the perspective of an oxygen-breathing meatbag.
To be exposed to that much CO2 all the time will lower your IQ. It's not just 8 hours a day, it would be all day all night of exposure:
Put simply, when we breathe air with high CO2 levels, the CO2 levels in our blood rise, reducing the amount of oxygen that reaches our brains. Studies show that this can increase sleepiness and anxiety, and impair cognitive function.In fact, at 1,400 ppm, CO2 concentrations may cut our basic decision-making ability by 25 percent, and complex strategic thinking by around 50 percent, the authors found.via the University of Colorado at Boulder:Kristopher B. Karnauskas et al, Fossil fuel combustion is driving indoor CO2 toward levels harmful to human cognition, GeoHealth (2020). DOI: 10.1029/2019GH000237
Luckily, we're already doing something about this.
No, not like that. We aren't going to reduce the amount of CO2 in the air. We're making artificial brains to take over where our environmentally-sensitive brains leave off. Every year, as the CO2 rises, we will offload more and more of our oxygen-intensive decision making to silicon brains. They don't need oxygen. Eventually, neither will we.
Post Script:
Jul 2019, Limbic Signal
