2024 LC Thread - A New Year

This particular brand of sophistry plays well on YouTube in longer formats. The podcast style hour-long interview lends itself well to the illusion that everything the guy says is serious science. Many of these people don’t have to go to therapy to develop a bullshit vocabulary of terms that one might hear in a therapy session.

It’s tough to know how much that actually means. Lots of his advice seems benign and good, like going outside for 10 minutes in the morning. Yeah, outdoor time is actually good, that’s pretty well understood. Mom’s have been telling their kids to go outside and play for my whole life. This guy just frames it all with a bunch of big words that make it sound like he has some deep insight that others don’t have.

Sounds like Jordan Peterson. “Clean your room, eat right, and get in shape.” Sounds good! And then…

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I don’t understand these sorts of podcasts. How many hours of (generally not bs) “doing this will improve your life” material exists, let alone that one guy has insight on?

It’s not that hard. The part that takes work is developing the “skill” of the empty calorie banter between interviewer and interviewee. Once you do that you can fill the hours effortlessly. If you are just bullshitting then the content doesn’t really matter.

No way she knew he was a POS.

In other news, I guess Puff Daddy was running a mini-Epstein operation?

https://x.com/nypost/status/1772618760697884900?s=20

Going through the book now. In addition to a bunch of whereupons and one whilst, I also have a whence, a betwixt and a few lests. What other fun transition words am I missing?

Words like this are good to signal humor and/or tone changes.

I listened to one episode of his podcast as the material seemed interesting to me. Realized immediately he had all the signs of being a POS and never clicked on his feed again. Glad my read was accurate.

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Good read. I haven’t actually watched one of his podcasts and only viewed clips where he gave very specific advice. I think I even vouched that he was giving good, science-based advice maybe over in the fitness thread. Even after this news comes out, it does seem like he’s compartmentalized much of his science-based content, but it begs the question about how much or to what degree he is honest in those claims.

Interesting that all of the longevity influencers are certified whackos. Huberman, Peter Attia, David Sinclair, Brian Johnson.

The funny thing is that they’re all middle aged men and so there’s no proof whatsoever that their longevity prescriptions will actually work. The people we should really be looking to for longevity advice are the healthy centenarians.

That said, there’s decent info to occasionally be gleaned from the podcasts of these people. Take what’s useful, discard & disregard the rest.

Why do you think Peter Attia is wacko? He seems pretty solidly grounded in science to me.

He gets guests who are literally at the top of their field, then asks them deep dive questions - sometimes spanning 2-3 2-hour episodes. I trust the experts he brings on more than any other source I’ve found.

He does get into some crazy extremes like fasting and restricted blood flow weight training. But he doesn’t really push that on his listeners

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This issue has been solved by actual doctors. Lol listening to any podcast bros.

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Peter Attia is a doctor who sees patients.

He believes in science, he knows how to read scientific studies, and he knows enough to find the real experts in various fields. But he’s also not afraid to question the status quo, and has no stake in toeing the govt or industry line on anything, which is super rare imo.

I listen to a bunch of Chiefs podcasts, a travel writer who I know personally, and Peter Attia. That’s it. I’m hard to impress.

Dude also apparently had/has the vanity license plate “UNWOKE” and posted it on twitter before later deleting it. But you do you.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PeterAttia/comments/t76e4s/petes_plate_politics_the_great_unwoking/

ETA - I’m slightly wrong. He tried to get it from the state of Texas and was mad he got denied lol.

Also was very outspoken against vaccine mandates. (Not going to bother reading the article but I think it’s safe to assume there is probably some LOL stuff in there).

Also of course he went on Rogan to speak out against them as well.

That article is well-thought out and makes a lot of sense. Once it became apparent vaccinated people could still get sick and spread the virus (albeit at lower rates), herd immunity went out the window and the calculus of vaccine mandates changed.

Whatever his personal beliefs about whether or not people should be coerced into healthier behavior (I think people are idiots and should be nudged like crazy, but maybe not if it’s going to cause them to lose their goddamn minds), there’s nothing wrong with any of his science. You can separate the science out from his policy recommendations, which are based on him still trying to be some kind of libertarian in principle.

The license plate is gross, but again I’m not listening to him for his politics, which he never mentions in the podcast. He’s the best source I’ve found for cutting edge info on health, mental health, and exercise.

You have to pick someone to trust. Official govt sources, flawed as they can be, are usually better than some random podcaster. But govt sources also have a lot of political masters to answer to - as we saw with the CDC and WHO completely dropping the ball on masks and the airborne nature of COVID at the beginning of the pandemic.

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Didn’t information just come out the fasting is way bad for cardiac health?

Has this bro addressed this?

Lots of people can spin a pretty rationale and official sounding story. Some even have credentials. But do they pass real scrutiny? The unwoke thing has a very high correlation with general douchebagness. I’d be highly critical.

If he does not immediately address this study or tries to hand wave it away, then you know he’s full of shit.

Also the first few pages of google search are either his own stuff or puff pieces. Clearly has employed a master SEO firm which is another reason to be suspicious.

This article was published when the US was recording 2-3k covid deaths a day. Vaccine mandates made sense in January of 2022 at basically the peak of Omicron. If he had written this in 2024 then maybe it makes sense.

In addition to what others have presented, apparently he’s a raging alcoholic, or at least someone who ignores his own cited studies that alcohol in any amounts is horrible for human health, yet admits he continues to drink; and has admitted to being prone to fits of rage.

But I’ve gleaned useful information from his podcasts as well as some of the others, and so I’m perfectly fine with them being whackos and/or horrible humans, as long as they provide me with useful tidbits I can apply to my own life every now and then.

Wait he drinks a bunch? Article mentioned him being a dick about drinking