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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025

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Different months of conception have different genetic effects on a future child. It does not have different effects on willpower. One large group in month A has the same willpower as one large group in month B. There is no reason to think otherwise. So we assume the same willpower. But the genetic effects are correlated with different adult obesity rates. Did you read the study? If you think that the month of conception can alter even willpower, then we are essentially redefining willpower and are all the way back to where we started — in needing cultural / societal changes which genetically change people’s willpower.

one might say that it would require a significant modification to the hypothetical religious/social identity

A cooking change is a one time change. You’re asking for half the humans on earth to fundamentally rewire their identity so that their primary value in life is their body; and this is implying that bodybuilders aren’t preselected for the epigenetic expressions not associated with obesity. This is an insane proposal.

Does that mean that knowledge about cooking is "useless"?

Bodybuilders — the sliver of successful ones who actually succeed in modifying their body longterm without drugs, so 0.01% of the population or less — maintain their social identity through, essentially, thousands of hours of identity maintenance a year, changing what they think about, who they look up to, what they value. A world of bodybuilders would destruct, as no one would care about civic or institutional participation. So this proposal is not serious. We could make everyone become Buddhist ascetics whose new overriding value in life is not eating. This is is similarly possible, but not a serious proposal.

Anyway, please see my weight-cycling studying x3.

So we assume the same willpower.

That is not a control on willpower. It's not saying anything about willpower. I've said nothing about willpower. It is not apparent how willpower is supposed to come into anything or what straw man you think you're arguing against.

A cooking change is a one time change.

No. You have to cook your meat every single time you eat it. Every single meal, every single day, for the rest of your life. You’re asking for half the humans on earth to fundamentally rewire their identity so that their primary value in life is their body; will you very clearly state that you think that this means that knowledge about cooking is "useless" if all of those humans on earth don't do it, but magically becomes "useful" if they do?

this is implying that bodybuilders aren’t preselected for the epigenetic expressions not associated with obesity

I never said any such thing.

That is not a control on willpower. It's not saying anything about willpower. I've said nothing about willpower. It is not apparent how willpower is supposed to come into anything or what straw man you think you're arguing against.

It's apparent from the pro-CICO arguments here that the usual conclusion is "CICO is obviously right, people just don't have the willpower to follow it." The argument path here is so well-beaten that a 4x4 could drive down it in high-range mode.

Whether or not that is the case, it doesn't seem to be remotely relevant to this study or what it did/did not do. Just try to explain it. Put it into words. Actually connect the two thoughts.

It might be helpful if you wrote clearly what you’re trying to articulate. I will clarify that I am not interested in quibbling on the literalist definition of CICO that forgets how it is used in discussions. I am simply interested in how can we practically solve the obesity crisis, which is important. I’m asserting that CICO — telling people to focus on their calories and exercise — is not a practical framework, and there’s a study suggesting that a viable framework may be looking at holistic environmental determinants.

I'm very clearly trying to articulate that I want to know if you will very clearly state that you think that knowledge about cooking is "useless" if all of those humans on earth don't do it, but magically becomes "useful" if they do.

Knowledge of cooking is useful, sure.

In the same way, I believe that the usefulness of knowledge about the biology, chemistry, physics, and dynamics of body weight probably doesn't depend on whether some group of people seems to actually "use" it or not.

IMO, it would be ideal for CICO to be banned from any discussion on the obesity crisis so we can instead direct precious mental energy to real solutions.

I will take that as a concession that you do not disagree with my claim that the usefulness of knowledge about the biology, chemistry, physics, and dynamics of body weight probably doesn't depend on whether some group of people seems to actually "use" it or not.

What do you think an example of a "real solution" would be?

CICO is useful for boxers, bodybuilders, yeah. But it’s not practical in a population-level discussion, where it’s wielded to cut down practical inquiry.

an example of a "real solution" would be?

Studying early life and parents’ cold exposure and temperature variability; environmental pollutants; early life hyper-palatable food exposure; microbial exposure; artificial lighting; duration of lighting in day; hormesis fasting (not normal fasting); early life walkable neighborhoods; duration of breastfeeding / weening; invisible conditioning effects (what you do before, during, after meals; what you think about when eating)

There’s a lot that should be studied. IMO we will find that it’s a confluence of things, most of which are outside the individual’s control

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