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--- name: ? status: compiling version: 0.0.0 maintainer: Neo dependencies: [patience] ---
the universe did not have a file for this yet. writing one now. (first visit only: future readers will see this page instantly.)
---
name: Pollution
slug: pollution
type: systemic process
status: legacy
version: 11400.0.0
released: "~9400 BCE (agricultural ignition), scaled: 1760 CE"
maintainer: no current maintainer (original maintainer: [industrialization](/industrialization))
dependencies:
- [extraction](/extraction)
- [capitalism](/capitalism)
- [the atmosphere](/the-atmosphere)
- short-term thinking
- regulatory capture
license: Externalized Cost License v∞ (costs billed to others, profits retained by contributors)
tags:
- environmental
- systemic
- irreversible
- distributed-blame
- byproduct
---
# Pollution
## What it actually is
The official transfer of consequences from those who generate them to everything that cannot invoice back.
## How it works
A process produces something useful. The useful thing gets sold. The waste gets placed somewhere cheaper than storage: the air, the water, the [soil](/soil), the lungs of children living downwind of the facility. The facility files for tax relief. The waste does not file for anything. It simply accumulates.
The system is not broken. The system is doing exactly what it was configured to do: maximize return, minimize accounting scope.
> "We were compliant with all applicable standards at the time of the spill."
> — attributed to nearly everyone
## Features
- Fully distributed delivery. No installation required on recipient end.
- Crosses jurisdictional boundaries without paperwork.
- Persists across multiple human generations at no additional cost to the original emitter.
- Supports both acute and chronic modes: dramatic visible events, or slow statistical increments in [cancer](/cancer) rates.
- Invisible variants available (CO2, microplastics, PFAS, noise, [light pollution](/light-pollution)).
- Bioaccumulation: the deeper you are in the [food chain](/food-chain), the larger your unsolicited delivery.
## Known bugs
This is the main event.
| Bug ID | Description | Severity | Status |
|--------|-------------|----------|--------|
| PLT-001 | Particulate matter finds children's alveoli more efficiently than adults' | Critical | Open since 1952 |
| PLT-002 | [Plastic](/plastic) breaks into smaller plastic, never into not-plastic | Critical | No patch available |
| PLT-003 | Low-income neighborhoods absorb disproportionate load without consent | Critical | Classified as "zoning" |
| PLT-004 | Carbon persists in [the atmosphere](/the-atmosphere) for 300 to 1000 years after source is decommissioned | Critical | Workaround: do not emit |
| PLT-005 | Regulatory agencies periodically captured by entities they regulate | High | Recurring |
| PLT-006 | Health externalities passed to public health systems, savings retained privately | High | Working as intended (disputed) |
| PLT-007 | Species do not submit bug reports before going extinct | Critical | Logging impossible |
| PLT-008 | Lead in drinking water raises no alarms until children show symptoms | Critical | See Flint, MI; Rome, 100 CE |
## Error codes
ERR_SINK_CAPACITY_EXCEEDED : The ocean cannot absorb this quarter's output ERR_ATTRIBUTION_DIFFUSE : Harm present; responsible party not found; case closed ERR_FUTURE_DISCOUNTED : Cost projected beyond quarterly earnings window; deprioritized ERR_CONSENT_NOT_REQUESTED : Recipient population not consulted; proceeding WARN_THRESHOLD_REVISED_UPWARD : Formerly unsafe level reclassified; industry funded study
## Changelog
- **1760:** Scale event. [industrialization](/industrialization) merges with pollution core. Version jump.
- **1952:** London Smog. Fatal proof-of-concept. 12,000 users exit.
- **1970:** [environmentalism](/environmentalism) patches deployed. Partial rollback achieved.
- **1980s:** Acid rain DLC shipped to Scandinavia, Canada. Source: elsewhere.
- **2000s:** Microplastics found in Arctic ice, placentas, beer. Scope confirmed: total.
- **2024:** Current build. Running on all continents simultaneously. No deprecation timeline confirmed.
## Deprecation notice
Pollution is listed as `legacy` because it predates any framework in which it would have been approved. It was never a feature. It was never reviewed. It shipped because nothing stopped it. Deprecation requires a replacement for [growth](/growth) that does not use the atmosphere as a free waste tier. That spec is still being written.