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jaime2000 comments on Rationality Quotes April 2014 - LessWrong
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~J. Stanton, "The Paleo Identity Crisis: What Is The Paleo Diet, Anyway?"
But the answers might be specific to each individual because the biochemistry of humans is not exactly the same.
In that case, the questions have complicated answers. The best dieting advice might be "first sequence your personal microbiome then consult this lookup table..."
The important thing is not that the answers are complicated, but that the answers are different for different people. "Consult a lookup table" is not an answer, it's advice how to get to one.
Individuals being different from each other shouldn't necessarily diminish the significance of biochemistry. Biochemistry should explain not just our similarities but overarching principles that organize and explain the differences.
My point wasn't that biochemistry is not important. My point was that the answers you get from biochemistry might be complicated and limited in application.
It not at all clear that someone who knows all the biochemistry will outperform someone who's good at feeling what goes on in his body.
In the absence of good measurement instruments feelings allow you to respond to specific situations much better than theoretical understanding.
I am told that the natural feeling for gravity and balance is worse than useless to a pilot.
I am told this as well.
See also http://lesswrong.com/lw/1hh/rationality_quotes_november_2009/1ah9
Depending on the outcome specificied and the type of feelings attended to, of course.
Yes, being able to tell apart the feeling, that makes you crave sugar from the felling that tells you that you should eat some flesh to fix your B12 deficieny, isn't easy.
Getting clear about the outcome that you want to achieve with your eating choices is also not straightforward.
Both are skills for which understanding biochemistry is secondary.
As far as I can tell, distinguishing between those sorts of feeling is a matter of accumulated experience. There aren't classes of feelings, some of which are desires for things which are bad for you and others which are desires for what you need.
I'm not 100% sure because I'm not that good at making eating choicses but there are those people who make intuitive eating choices you wouldn't eat sugared food but who eat mostly raw vegan and who their raw steak once a month to stock up on B12 when their body calls for it (or whatever the body actually calls for when he brings up the desire to eat flesh).
With cognitive thinking, there far- and near-thinking. I think that exists also for feelings. Fun would be a word that generally describes a near-feeling while life satisfaction refers to a more far-feeling.
A meditation is finished when you feel it's finished. If you don't have that feeling which can take years to develop you need a clock to tell you when 15 minutes are over because otherwise you might use it as a excuse to quit the meditation when things become really hard.