Natalie Portman - Scientist

Re:Natalie Portman - Scientist by mv on Tuesday March 01, 2011 @03:44PM (#2277116)

What I find odd is that most people want to believe everyone is born equal. They want to believe this so badly they ignore any evidence to the contrary. For example, I can eat anything and won't gain weight, yet someone else is morbidly obese on the same diet. I can glance at something once and memorize it easily whereas else may have to spend hours and hours. We are not born equal, BUT we can improve ourselves.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Natalie Portman - Scientist by scott_s on Tuesday March 01, 2011 @03:52PM (#2277144)

I sincerely doubt that you are skinny on a diet that would make someone else morbidly obese [1]. What I think is more likely is that you eat as much as you want and are skinny. You're just lucky that, either through nature or nurture, what you want to eat, and the amount you want to eat, balances out with what your body needs.

I agree that there are going to be variations in inherent intelligence, body composition, or even ability to play basketball. I just don't think it's as extreme as some people do, nor do I think it's enough to be the sole enabler of people who operate at the genius level in activities.

[1] Assuming they don't have a hormonal problem, which are known to cause people on reasonable diets to become obese.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Natalie Portman - Scientist by cdavoren on Tuesday March 01, 2011 @06:27PM (#2277731)

This is backed up by medical knowledge. It has been repeatedly shown that metabolism varies very little between people when corrected for body mass. What does vary considerably is appetite, and this is the major contributor to body weight.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Natalie Portman - Scientist by mv on Tuesday March 01, 2011 @07:35PM (#2277957)

Do not say 'backed up by medical knowledge' unless you plan on citing sources.

I don't have much time right now, but I did find a good starting point: http://www.ajcn.org/content/53/6/1561S.abstract "In this regard, the proneness to store energy primarily as fat or as lean tissue is a major determinant of the response to a caloric surplus."

Also: http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v8/n7/abs/oby200063a.html Talks about insulin secretion being different between races even after accounting for other factors.

gasp we all aren't created equal! We all don't have the same benefits. Some people are born disadvantaged and must work for things!

And to the comment a few levels up, my ~3,500kcal diet would make some people obese even after accounting for my activity levels! 1 kcal for you is not the same as 1 kcal for me, bodies differ in conversion, storage, and utilization.

I have a hard time understanding why people don't like admitting that just as we differ on the outside (beauty, fitness) we are also different on the inside (metabolism, disease susceptibility)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Natalie Portman - Scientist by abstractbill on Tuesday March 01, 2011 @08:09PM (#2278050)

I have a hard time understanding why people don't like admitting that just as we differ on the outside (beauty, fitness) we are also different on the inside (metabolism, disease susceptibility)

I can only speak for myself, but "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" sums it up pretty well for me.

Beautiful to whom?

Fit for what?

Susceptible to which diseases? Concrete example: Carrying a gene for sickle-cell disease is obviously bad... unless you want some resistance to malaria. So which is it now, good or bad?

Of course people are different, and that's awesome. But the idea that you can give people "scores" on a bunch of axes like the ones above, and then figure out who is "better" or "worse" seems to me naive at best.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Natalie Portman - Scientist by mv on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @03:16AM (#2278853)

it is awesome that people differ. Everyone has advantages and disadvantages but people aren't equal. Some people will have lots of advantages with minimal disadvantages, and yet others will have the opposite. I don't understand why people like to deny this.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Natalie Portman - Scientist by geden on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @06:34AM (#2279223)

It's not so very hard to understand. Historically people used (and still use) 'differences' as a reason to enslave, murder and other wise subjugate tens of millions of other humans.

So there is a backlash against that. Thankfully. And along the way, in the push back, facts may get lost. Fact's that really, in the context of war, were not helpful.

And now humanity's leading edge seems to be becoming comfortable with that fact we are all different and actually kind of the same and are accommodating of wonderful multiplicity.

Whilst watching the shadow aspects of our egos, in case they come out to grandstand.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Natalie Portman - Scientist by rue on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @05:32AM (#2279095)

> We are not born equal, BUT we can improve ourselves.

Why would you think we're equally able to improve ourselves, either?

[ Parent | on HN ]