Generalizations Are Not The Truth

Roger J. Williams at the University of Texas pioneered the work on individual biochemical diversity -- that individual tolerances vary so greatly that "one man's meat is another man's poison," so that the only way one knows definitively that something works for them (or not), is actually to run the experiment themselves -- rather than rely on the generalized experience, because one could well be the exception. And if that is the case, that is the fact, no matter what the average

That's particularly true with mood enhancers -- because if it makes you think you feel better, then it is working. So you should keep a journal during your own trial experiment -- or you will have difficulty differentiating the marketing propaganda, from your actual own experience.

There's a lot of bad freelance pseudo-medical/scientific articles that make it into the mainstream media because the editors have even less competency to judge because they proudly took no science or mathematic courses because their "liberal arts" major did not require it.

Their course of instruction lay mainly in repeating what they believe the duly-certified authorities say -- with no idea of how to determine the truth of any matter for themselves, which of course, is the scientific method -- rather than the mere scientism of the currently fashionable "politically correct" -- that they are propagandists for, which confirms their belief and world view, that nothing can ever work, and one cannot tell the difference -- and those who do, are the charlatans.

Most of what people believe to be true in health and science, is what has been commercially successful -- even though there may be actually no validity to their claims at all -- but usually, they are careful not to make any claims at all, preferring to allow people to believe what they want to believe. Propagandists and marketers know that what is repeated often enough, comes to be regarded as the truth -- whether there is any to it at all.

The classic case is aerobics and target heart rate -- which is usually held up as the Holy Grail of sports medicine. It was the first book on exercise that sold over a million copies -- and so everyone else plagiarized it -- wholly or in part. Many books sold at the height of its popularity, were nothing more than a new title like "Aerobics for Poets," and "Aerobics for Yoga," and then ripped off the original work in its entirety.

The original work simply established the guidelines in which one could feel fairly confident that one was not putting undue strain on one's heart by recommending one stay with 50-80% of a theoretical maximum -- calculated by age, which is not the most significant difference in individuals. Some people have congenitally slow heart rates of 50 or lower (usually the most fit), while some people have heart rates above 100 -- which is already a factor of 100% error -- based arbitrarily on age. The 50% threshold is the normal resting heart rate in the average person -- which implied that it did not require the raising of it to a minimum of the 80%, which became in the hands of physical education experts -- the opposite of what it was intended.

Another popular misconception is that exercise can fundamentally alter one's metabolic rate -- rather than it being one's unique constant that everyone has to familiarize themselves and master. Nothing one does, can successfully turn them into someone else -- and so the enduring wisdom of the ages, has been that one has to "Know oneself," uniquely -- and not as the fictional generality, or average.

The average is not the reality; the specific is the reality -- no matter how hard the marketers and propagandists try to convince us, that their truth should supplant one's own life experience, and override one's own senses at all times -- which makes them perfect fodder for the marketers and propagandists of all stripes and intents.

That is usually the rudimentary mass education and conformity to what people should think -- while reserving that power to a few who believe their unique calling in life, is to tell everybody else what to think -- instead of the true meaning of education, in how to think, and can then discover the truth of anything, for themselves.