RP Is Anti-authoritarian But I'm Starting To View RP As An Authority And Losing My Critical Thinking

lampofred

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What do you do when someone has been pretty much always right to ensure that you don't just complacently listen to what they say, unable to research and make decisions for yourself? In the past mainstream ideas tended to not work so I was forced to think critically, but now since RP has so many answers, I'm developing a bad habit of just looking up what he has said about something and following that blindly.

For example, RP has recommended against supplementing isolated amino acids but maybe in a certain context, even though the harm will be there, maybe the benefit would be greater than the harm, such as if someone is deficient in taurine?

Also doesn't help that whenever I have gone against RP's ideas in the past I was proven to be wrong later on...
 

mrchibbs

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This is an interesting thought.

I think Ray would certainly frown at some of the things that are said and done on this forum, where we often don't follow the ideas of experimentation and instead just try to stick to what we believe is the ''Peaty'' way of doing things.

I'm sure Ray is wrong about several things in the grand scheme of things, but in my experience over the last few years, he gets so much right that it is hard to be critical about anything he says or does.

Recently (say over the past year) I've noticed a growing tendency (which I think is normal) of people being more critical of Ray and his ideas, maybe after a few years of a ''honeymoon'' phase with the ideas of ''Peating''. Most often however, the criticism takes the form of a straw man argument, totally distorting and/or caricaturing Ray's quotes. There is so much nuance and detail which you can only start understanding by listening to a lot of podcasts, and hearing Ray word the same ideas in slightly different ways each time, slowly giving you a better understanding of the interactions he talks about.

Ultimately, and I say this unabashedly, I adore Ray and I think he's an extraordinary man. In times like these we need heroes and even it can sound foolish and naive, I'm fairly certain his influence will shape the rest of my life and he has my complete admiration.
 

YourUniverse

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Nose dive into another field of interest, one where there isn't a person or body that you trust completely (as you do RP). Learning the "easy way" is a time and energy saver. Stand on Ray's shoulders as you apply critical thinking to the next frontier of your life.
 

mrchibbs

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Blossom

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It was hard for me to step back and let go of certain ideas when they were no longer serving me. As long as I don’t forget to look critically at my own situation and reevaluate periodically things seem to work out fine. It’s when I put another person’s thoughts or perspective (Peat or others) in higher regard than my lived experience that I get into trouble. I also tend to persist in things that once worked for me but aren’t working anymore. I’m eternally grateful for all of the shared information from Peat and this forum because it has truly changed my life and that’s primarily because it kept me from giving up.
 

mrchibbs

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It was hard for me to step back and let go of certain ideas when they were no longer serving me. As long as I don’t forget to look critically at my own situation and reevaluate periodically things seem to work out fine. It’s when I put another person’s thoughts or perspective (Peat or others) in higher regard than my lived experience that I get into trouble. I also tend to persist in things that once worked for me but aren’t working anymore. I’m eternally grateful for all of the shared information from Peat and this forum because it has truly changed my life and that’s primarily because it kept me from giving up.

One positive aspect of Ray's influences is that we see people stick around on this forum for many years, which is quite rare in other ''communities''. To me, this highlights the inherent value of Ray's contribution.
 

Blossom

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One positive aspect of Ray's influences is that we see people stick around on this forum for many years, which is quite rare in other ''communities''. To me, this highlights the inherent value of Ray's contribution.
Yes, definitely!
 

Beastmode

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I put my experience before anyone else's opinion on a subject matter. Peat seems to be consistent in his ability to refine a "complex" matter into useable chunks for me, but I still remain critical within the process of experimentation, etc.
 

Broken man

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See Peat as a way of doing things not google and I think that he is not right about few things for example taking thyroid is not for everybody, drinking coffee too, antibiotics, cow dairy, starches and so on....
 

mrchibbs

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See Peat as a way of doing things not google and I think that he is not right about few things for example taking thyroid is not for everybody, drinking coffee too, antibiotics, cow dairy, starches and so on....

Well that's a pretty long list of things you think he's not right about lol
 

Gone Peating

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This is an interesting thought.

I think Ray would certainly frown at some of the things that are said and done on this forum, where we often don't follow the ideas of experimentation and instead just try to stick to what we believe is the ''Peaty'' way of doing things.

I'm sure Ray is wrong about several things in the grand scheme of things, but in my experience over the last few years, he gets so much right that it is hard to be critical about anything he says or does.

Recently (say over the past year) I've noticed a growing tendency (which I think is normal) of people being more critical of Ray and his ideas, maybe after a few years of a ''honeymoon'' phase with the ideas of ''Peating''. Most often however, the criticism takes the form of a straw man argument, totally distorting and/or caricaturing Ray's quotes. There is so much nuance and detail which you can only start understanding by listening to a lot of podcasts, and hearing Ray word the same ideas in slightly different ways each time, slowly giving you a better understanding of the interactions he talks about.

Ultimately, and I say this unabashedly, I adore Ray and I think he's an extraordinary man. In times like these we need heroes and even it can sound foolish and naive, I'm fairly certain his influence will shape the rest of my life and he has my complete admiration.

Ray is definitely a pursuer of truth, which is something very rare today ESPECIALLY in academia
 

mrchibbs

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Ray is definitely a pursuer of truth, which is something very rare today ESPECIALLY in academia

Indeed. At this point I'm pretty sure that if you want truth you should stay far away from universities.
 

Jennifer

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What do you do when someone has been pretty much always right to ensure that you don't just complacently listen to what they say, unable to research and make decisions for yourself? In the past mainstream ideas tended to not work so I was forced to think critically, but now since RP has so many answers, I'm developing a bad habit of just looking up what he has said about something and following that blindly.

For example, RP has recommended against supplementing isolated amino acids but maybe in a certain context, even though the harm will be there, maybe the benefit would be greater than the harm, such as if someone is deficient in taurine?

Also doesn't help that whenever I have gone against RP's ideas in the past I was proven to be wrong later on...
Maybe make a commitment to yourself to trust your own experiences above all else? Even if you don't/can't follow through with it all the time, I would think your body in the long run would keep you from complacently listening to what Ray or any other expert says since I suspect you didn't continue to follow what didn't work for you in the past? And really, is it that you are following Ray blindly or that you trust him because unlike your past experiences with mainstream ideas, his ideas have proven to be right for you? I'd say it's totally understandable, even wise, that you would first look to a source that hasn't let you down in the past. I mean, if your car needed to have work done on it, would your first instinct be to go the first mechanic you come across in the phone book or the one you've been going to for years because he's honest and does good work for a fair price?
 

Sheik

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I've been interested in the idea of designing experiments that people can replicate at home to develop true knowledge of a thing instead of taking someone's word for it, even Peat's.

I was thinking about doing some experiments on mice, though that would take a few years at least. For example, feeding them different fats and measuring lifespan, and the lifespan of offspring.
 

gaze

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i feel the same way. I think its because we strongly agree with peats overall framework of reducing stress, happiness, fertility, etc, and the fact that he doesnt sell supplements or whatever, that we trust everything he says is truly oriented toward his framework and not fueled by capitalistic ambition behind the curtain. some people may disagree with some aspects of his advice if they are using another framework such as athletic performance or building muscle, but because I see health in a lens more similar to his ideas that I basically trust anything he says at this point
 

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