Re:Have Attention Spans Been Declining? – Yes, 65%
by axiomaticdoubts on Monday July 24, 2023 @08:46PM
(#36856307)
Those posts have grave errors, which the authors have been made aware of long ago but have refused to fix. For example, they literally made up the claim that wild animals have been getting more obese (there is no evidence of that). See this post I wrote for more details: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/NRrbJJWnaSorrqvtZ/on-not-get...
While not without it’s problems (which is to be expected considering the impossibly complex subject matter), It does a fantastic job detailing how the obesity epidemic is not some kind of oversimplified moral sin issue where we all suddenly became gluttonous (“just eat less!”) and slothful (“just do more”).
The major thing I find lacking is the omission of just how much the many different types of fatty and amino acids also act as major chemical signals that ultimately[0] affect whether your body tries to burn energy “wastefully” for heat, or tries to store it. The articles leans toward environmental chemicals as being the primary effectors subtly acting on our metabolism, but the very food we eat is itself a massive load of chemicals with complex effects that we can’t ignore.
[0] The next time someone wanting to feel clever and smug about it says “calories in, calories out” or “muh thermodynamics”, send them this: http://biochemical-pathways.com/#/map/1