The name "forever chemicals" kind of suggests that these things being in essentially every body of water on earth means we still could use a way to deal with filtration even if we never pollute again.
regulated by who though? the GP was making the argument that the government is captured by the oil industry. regulation by a captured government is not legitimate regulation.
That kind of black and white cynicism is incorrect and the opposite of a solution. It impedes people who actually want to fix problems, and who occasionally succeed.
I’ve found my own pockets of cynicism is motivated fundamentally by laziness. If it’s impossible to succeed, you don’t need to try, don’t need to risk failure. But it is possible.
Saying there's an ubiquitous failure of a certain approach to a problem doesn't mean "give up". I think it means you should step back, question your assumptions, think more broadly. A nice example of people doing that: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Markets-Uprooting-Capitalism-... (not to endorse their specific policy proposals, necessarily).