Idiot or Fanatic?

You know where to find that quote.

(Below is basically a rehash of this post.)

Several people I know badmouth alcohol as "poison." Of course, you get the same thing from many vegans about animal products, including the claim "Casein is the most relevant chemical carcinogen ever identified" - to which tobacco says, "Hold my beer."

This is the general pattern - what I do is correct. If you do less, you're a "poison drinking" idiot. If you do more, you are a crazy fanatic.

My current take on the evidence is that physical fitness is the most important determinant of healthspan. Everyone has their "studies" to "prove" their personal view, but the numbers here from Dr. Peter Attia convinced me that diet is not the single greatest factor.

Do you spend several hours every day doing optimal exercises? Do you get in just the right amount of Zone 2 activity, with regular blood draws during exercise to measure your lactate levels? Do you do perfect VO2 Max workouts? Do you do all the balance work recommended? Do you lift the right weights in the right way at the right time? Do you work walking on a treadmill, never sitting? Do you have a glucose monitor stabbing you regularly to make sure your levels stay optimal? Do you really get the optimal amount and quality of protein? Have you perfected mindfulness to keep your stress low? Do you get the optimal amount of sleep without any aid at all? Are you the perfect BMI and percentage body fat? Have you filled your life with a solid, loving social network? Do you care only about the things you can impact, and let everything else bad fall away with no impact on your mental health?* 

Wait. You don't do every single one of those things (and many more)?

How can you stand yourself, you idiot?

Of course, I'm joking.

It took me a long time to get to this point, but I don't care if anyone thinks I'm an idiot. I don't care if others think or act like me. For example, I don't care if you drink alcohol, or do shrooms, or gorge on tater tots, or skydive, or worship Vishnu, or practice autoerotic asphyxiation, or run ultramarathons, or watch trashy TV.

What I do care about is suffering. 

It doesn't matter if another person's beliefs or actions correlate with mine at all. What matters is if they are causing suffering, to themselves or (especially) to others. 

I don't know how to change anyone's mind to have them cause less suffering and suffer less themselves. But I do know that being right is clearly not the way to reduce suffering.

Genuine caring and kindness are better. No judgement. We need to start there. 

It is very hard, I know. But it would be a huge advance.

*By the way, Attia's life is dedicated to optimizing all of the things in that "Do you?" paragraph. Including being stabbed all the time. And he drinks alcohol.   😜