Valid points about money, but they’re primarily talking about calorie restriction and how metabolic adaptation eventually leads to weight loss stopping, because metabolism adapts to less energy and you can’t just keep ‘eating less’.
If you’re familiar with the low carb community, this is what’s famously called the ‘Biggest Loser’ problem, referring to the TV show and how contestants lost a lot of weight through extreme calorie restriction—but their metabolism eventually slowed down and they couldn’t eat less, so—nearly everyone gained it all back.
metabolic slowing with increased calorie restriction means that eventually the body adapts to the point where youd be consuming too few calories to function and still barely losing any weight
What most people don't understand is that weight loss and health is about a lot more than 'calories in/calories out', despite what we've been told for decades.
I'm surprised how few seem to understand this; AI is the ultimate 'net' to capture and exploit consumers. AI was never about improving civilization; it was always about money. This is the only thing 'inevitable' about AI.
This patient saw 6 doctors over 2 years and they all misdiagnosed them. They were taking incredibly strong medication for the wrong diagnosis.
GPT3 in 30 seconds gave 10 diagnosis and a doctor looked up the ones they didn't know. Saw one that fit, did the confirmation test, and the patient got the surgery needed.
Not a great analogy. I've had a far better experience with Claude for simple medical questions than googling or waiting for a response from a doctor. For example, last night I had a panic attack triggered by chugging a protein shake that was expired/gone bad. It was too late for any friends to be awake.
Talking with Claude was incredibly helpful. It gave concrete suggestions for managing the anxiety in the moment and explained what was likely happening with my body and nervous system. It was the correct tool for the job.
The problem has never been a lack of solutions; we already know what to do. Ideas are cheap, easy, plentiful. Ideas for ‘better’ political systems are just bike shedding.
We don’t need more ideas, we need the political will to try one. And that is the real problem.
"We" is going a long way here. I have yet to meet someone in rural Minnesota that is aware of this problem, and that there are alternative solutions like this one.
But to your main point: the will is not in publishing this, but in spending every day winning hearts and minds in small town bars and community centers. I could certainly use some help.
"I wanted to build something for my 3-year old son that he could understand and use independently"
As a father I can't imagine ever leaving a 3-year-old alone with media so they can be 'independent'. If for no other reason, that's an age and developmental stage where media should be almost nonexistent in their lives.
The way i read the article, was not that the kid is unsupervised, more to give some agency.
The same way you might say to a kid, "pick out the book you want me to read to you off the shelf" this is something like, pick the video we are going to watch together.
Next time you're around children in a library look at those that are glued to their screens versus those reading picture books. Equating them as the same is so hilariously expected from a tech forum tho.
This sort of blanket judgement on media puts quite a lot of pressure on parents that require an electronic babysitter to function. Sure, it's great when you have a support network and a child who can keep themselves busy, but some of us just need Mrs. Rachel, Caillou, Daniel Tiger, etc to sedate/educate our children while we cook/clean/work/etc.
Besides, non-interactive, low-stimulation media with a plot line and simple dialog is not on the same level as giving your child a tablet and letting them have at it.
My real concern with this project is the amount of time the builder spent away from his children. Now I get it that some folks(dads on the spectrum?) might feel their best contribution to their child's development stems from something they build in the lab but your children are only young for such a short period and taking time away from them to build a custom electronic solution seems narrowminded and selfish.
A good book that explains it all is The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes, which came out the same year as this article.
Like many truths, it's actually well-known and frequently discussed in public, but hard to hear amongst all the noise of corporate messaging and decades of bad dietary 'advice' from both public and private institutions.
To paraphrase the Oracle in the Matrix: What's really going to bake your noodle later on is--saturated fat isn't the culprit in CVD either. And that's equally well-supported yet drowned out for the same reasons ('nonfat all the things!').
Ha--totally agree about the 'house full of easy first steps'. I have a few.
But I think it all still applies; the key is to keep taking small steps toward the thing, not just 'keep taking small steps'. You look at a successful small step and (like I wrote) ask 'what's the next step?' that will build on it.
Curious about that book - did it help you? Silly questions, but serious: How much did it help? What, specifically, did you get from it? Asking for a relative who has serious anxiety issues (no, really, it's not me... I have depression, and Burns' "Feeling Good" helped me substantially, specifically by identifying brain-spirals I get into, which lead to depression, and once known can be avoided). I'd love to recommend something good for them. Thanks!
It's not hyperbole to say it changed my life. The most valuable thing I got from it is a good understanding of what's actually happening, and how I can change it. It's such a great, readable, easy-to-understand book (in my opinion). I've given away several copies.
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