The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#1

Post by joel_perl_prog » Mon, May 19, 2014, 10:06 AM UTC

My response to yesterday's down votes, in a thread about health and eating. Food for thought (about food), if you like.

The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek
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Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#2

Post by spingsprong » Mon, May 19, 2014, 10:22 AM UTC

Just to pick on a tiny part of that post, consuming anti-oxidants hasn't been reliably shown to have any health benefits.

If consuming anti-oxidants has any effect, it's not necessarily a positive one, since the body uses oxidation for various processes, for example the immune system.

You might be consuming anti-oxidants aiming to benefit your health, yet be negatively impacting your immune system's ability to fight infection and prevent cancer.

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#3

Post by digitalengineer » Mon, May 19, 2014, 10:24 AM UTC

I think younger people in general have difficulty imagining their body might someday not perform exactly like it does today. It's understandable, because how do you imagine an older body? It's not their world (just yet). This is also why most of the startups focus on things younger people like them would like. I hope Apple's assumed focus on Health Apps will change this by the way).

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#4

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 19, 2014, 10:25 AM UTC

spingsprong wrote: post #2

Just to pick on a tiny part of that post, consuming anti-oxidants hasn't been reliably shown to have any health benefits. If consuming anti-oxidants has any effect, it's not necessarily a positive one, since the body uses oxidation for various processes, for example the immune system. You might be consuming anti-oxidants aiming to benefit your health, yet be negatively impacting your immune system's ability to fight…

[deleted]

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#5

Post by casca » Mon, May 19, 2014, 10:26 AM UTC

TL;DR: guy gets a comment downvoted on HN and responds by accusing the downvoters of having an unhealthy lifestyle.

Is there any evidence that the average geek is less healthy than the average person?

Here's a link to the comment in question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7763106

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#6

Post by mapleoin » Mon, May 19, 2014, 10:27 AM UTC

spingsprong wrote: post #2

Just to pick on a tiny part of that post, consuming anti-oxidants hasn't been reliably shown to have any health benefits. If consuming anti-oxidants has any effect, it's not necessarily a positive one, since the body uses oxidation for various processes, for example the immune system. You might be consuming anti-oxidants aiming to benefit your health, yet be negatively impacting your immune system's ability to fight…

I hope you're being ironic, because this attitude is exactly what the article is declaiming.

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#7

Post by etfb » Mon, May 19, 2014, 10:29 AM UTC

casca wrote: post #5

TL;DR: guy gets a comment downvoted on HN and responds by accusing the downvoters of having an unhealthy lifestyle. Is there any evidence that the average geek is less healthy than the average person? Here's a link to the comment in question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7763106

Logic says that someone who spends more time in front of a computer is less healthy than someone who spends less time in front of a computer. I think it's solid enough logic that the onus is on you to provide evidence to the contrary. But hell, geeks should be able to find actual evidence; that's what geeks do.

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#8

Post by cup » Mon, May 19, 2014, 10:29 AM UTC

From my extremely anacdotal experience I've found a number of people in the tech industry to be unknowningly living dangerous sedentary lives. It's easy to not realise how unfit you are when you're young, especially when your body bounces back relatively quickly and can adjust to change and stress appropriately.

Things start to look grim down the road though. The future is not kind to unprepared bodies.

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#9

Post by mef » Mon, May 19, 2014, 10:29 AM UTC

A link to the post in question https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7763106

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the downvotes are more for the claims of a miracle cure-all smoothie than for some sort of perceived self-promotion.

Re: The Hacker News Sacred Cow: The Unhealthy Lifestyle of The Average Geek

#10

Post by Liesmith » Mon, May 19, 2014, 10:29 AM UTC

casca wrote: post #5

TL;DR: guy gets a comment downvoted on HN and responds by accusing the downvoters of having an unhealthy lifestyle. Is there any evidence that the average geek is less healthy than the average person? Here's a link to the comment in question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7763106

Of course geeks have unhealthy lifestyles, a lot of us don't go outside and eat a lot of junk food. Sitting in the dark in front of a computer is not an activity that promotes health. This article is worthless anyway though because the guy got downvoted for posting a video of himself, not for being unhealthy, and also the guy's solution is an "antioxidant smoothie" which is pure unadulterated nonsense.