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The Problem Is Getting Bigger
Our normalization of obesity is killing us
We humans are a group species. As we lack powerful muscles, strong jaws, and sharp claws we aren’t adapted to defend ourselves as individuals against predators. Nor are we fast enough to run away, or light enough to climb to the very highest slender branches of a tree. For 98% of our evolutionary history the life expectancy of a solo human would be measured in days at most. The group has always been our unit of survival because only in groups did we stand a chance. Even now, in our modern technological world in which we belong to multiple groups simultaneously, we still rely on group membership. And so we’re adapted to fit into the group, regardless of what group norms happen to be. We rationalize even the most insane situations in order to avoid cognitive dissonance — a clash between what we know to be true and what the group proclaims to be true.
In short, we’re masters of believing whatever we’re told by purported authority figures, and masters of conforming to whatever happen to be the prevalent norms. Independent thought and independent action are nearly impossible for us because throughout our evolutionary history such traits would have been maladaptive.
In addition, we’re also adapted to do as little as possible. This is because for most of our evolutionary…
