Posthuman Blues

Autism Caused by Pollution

"Since autism is a relatively new phenomenon, researchers have long known that it must be caused by something fairly new in the environment. Some have even suggested it comes from using margarine in place of butter. However, it looks like it can actually be traced to that most modern of all problems: pollution. Heavy metal pollution comes from car exhausts (the same thing that causes most of our global warming), lead-based paint and industrial fumes, among other things. This is the exact kind of pollution that the Bush administration wants to ease controls on with its Clear Skies initiative."

Big surprise there. I'm reminded of the lucid dream I had several months ago, in which I seemed to be "touring" a near-future America. Seemingly all the children I happened across had some form of autism. I sincerely hope this dream was just the result of some random synaptic firing; otherwise, we're in exceedingly deep shit.