The Thought Police...
I read an interesting article online recently about a young student who had been suspended for questioning his teacher.
His teacher had given them the completely wrong information and the student challenged his answer, then the rest of the class for blindly accepting the wrong answer. He was suspended for being disrespectful and was told he SHOULD have accepted the answer.
So what lesson should we draw from this?
Should we blindly follow whatever information we are given? Or should we challenge it?
If we have a higher level of knowledge should it be our responsibility to make people aware or at the risk of offending someone should we remain quiet?
Most of our views are a mixture of the books we've read, the films and TV we've exposed to and the newspapers and magazines we read.
Have you ever read a newspaper article that you know something about?
There's always an element of truth, then the rest is usually dramatised rubbish. Every article about fitness that I have ever seen has had the same elements.
Articles are usually written by either a writer or a journalist, sometimes by a personal trainer who is trying to break through. The problem with this is rather than tell it how it should be, they have to follow the same format or be rejected.
I always try to look at everything from different angles. Take the opposite view and pick away at the strands till truths start to reveal themselves.
Earlier this summer I read a book all about anti-aging for men:
Age-Nostic Man: The secrets of anti-ageing for men Michael Hogg
In it he goes through all the ways you can turn back the biological clock and look better, feel better and perform better. So I researched around the subject and a fair degree of his book seemed to be on the money. Unfortunately it involves taking drugs.
So my wife and I got into a heated debate about drug use.
Here's a hypothetical:
They actually invent the limitless drug from the movie... would you take it?
Obviously depending on your values and beliefs you're going to have a strong view on this either way.
It might be a moral or ethical dilemma for you, or you might be someone who would already have woofed down your first pill.
Morally is it right to use drugs to develop yourself way beyond your natural potential?
Well let's argue that it IS wrong.
Ok someone is morbidly obese, or has a genetic disorder or is diabetic. Does that mean we should apply the same premise? If we give them drugs we are prolonging their lives unnaturally.
And this is where the problem exists today...
Society is becoming more and more obese. This isn't one factor this is a perfect storm of factors.
The first is the lives of the genetically weak are being unnaturally prolonged. In nature this doesn't happen, and 100 years ago, people with weak genetics would die before procreating. Look through the census, the evidence is all there.
One of my friends has been studying her family genealogy for the last few years. Regularly the pattern was 17 children born, 4 survived.
So a set of people who shouldn't survive do. Then they procreate, and pass on the weak genes. The live longer.
Then our food sources are boosted with all sorts of chemical contaminants. I am going to go into this in much greater detail tomorrow....
And I'm going to add all the contributory factors.
So taking drugs to improve yourself is morally wrong...ok
But giving drugs to weaker people to prolong their lives is ok. Is it?
I'm pro-choice in everything. I amy not share your views but I do think you have a right to have them.
If you want to optimise your food and feed your body good healthy nutrients, and supercharge yourself that way. I'm 100% behind you.
If you want to use technology to augment you. No problems at all.
And... if you want to take pharmaceuticals to enhance the functions of your body, again I'm ok with your choices. I don't have to follow you, but I can if I want.
So let's not censure choice, lets not censure people that challenge our beliefs, let's listen to their arguments or how they present their case, and identify the merits.
When I lectured at Central St Martins, I encouraged my students to engage their brains and think abut stuff.
Everyone should do at some level... so challenge those beliefs and maybe we can do something special together.
His teacher had given them the completely wrong information and the student challenged his answer, then the rest of the class for blindly accepting the wrong answer. He was suspended for being disrespectful and was told he SHOULD have accepted the answer.
So what lesson should we draw from this?
Should we blindly follow whatever information we are given? Or should we challenge it?
If we have a higher level of knowledge should it be our responsibility to make people aware or at the risk of offending someone should we remain quiet?
Most of our views are a mixture of the books we've read, the films and TV we've exposed to and the newspapers and magazines we read.
Have you ever read a newspaper article that you know something about?
There's always an element of truth, then the rest is usually dramatised rubbish. Every article about fitness that I have ever seen has had the same elements.
Articles are usually written by either a writer or a journalist, sometimes by a personal trainer who is trying to break through. The problem with this is rather than tell it how it should be, they have to follow the same format or be rejected.
I always try to look at everything from different angles. Take the opposite view and pick away at the strands till truths start to reveal themselves.
Earlier this summer I read a book all about anti-aging for men:
Age-Nostic Man: The secrets of anti-ageing for men Michael Hogg
So my wife and I got into a heated debate about drug use.
Here's a hypothetical:
They actually invent the limitless drug from the movie... would you take it?
Obviously depending on your values and beliefs you're going to have a strong view on this either way.
It might be a moral or ethical dilemma for you, or you might be someone who would already have woofed down your first pill.
Morally is it right to use drugs to develop yourself way beyond your natural potential?
Well let's argue that it IS wrong.
Ok someone is morbidly obese, or has a genetic disorder or is diabetic. Does that mean we should apply the same premise? If we give them drugs we are prolonging their lives unnaturally.
And this is where the problem exists today...
Society is becoming more and more obese. This isn't one factor this is a perfect storm of factors.
The first is the lives of the genetically weak are being unnaturally prolonged. In nature this doesn't happen, and 100 years ago, people with weak genetics would die before procreating. Look through the census, the evidence is all there.
One of my friends has been studying her family genealogy for the last few years. Regularly the pattern was 17 children born, 4 survived.
So a set of people who shouldn't survive do. Then they procreate, and pass on the weak genes. The live longer.
Then our food sources are boosted with all sorts of chemical contaminants. I am going to go into this in much greater detail tomorrow....
And I'm going to add all the contributory factors.
So taking drugs to improve yourself is morally wrong...ok
But giving drugs to weaker people to prolong their lives is ok. Is it?
I'm pro-choice in everything. I amy not share your views but I do think you have a right to have them.
If you want to optimise your food and feed your body good healthy nutrients, and supercharge yourself that way. I'm 100% behind you.
If you want to use technology to augment you. No problems at all.
And... if you want to take pharmaceuticals to enhance the functions of your body, again I'm ok with your choices. I don't have to follow you, but I can if I want.
So let's not censure choice, lets not censure people that challenge our beliefs, let's listen to their arguments or how they present their case, and identify the merits.
When I lectured at Central St Martins, I encouraged my students to engage their brains and think abut stuff.
Everyone should do at some level... so challenge those beliefs and maybe we can do something special together.
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