Read this article on anorexia
Oct. 20th, 2022 12:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyNew research shows that our assumptions about eating disorders are often wrong — and that many larger-bodied people are starving themselves.
The comments are just full of people who seem to intently believe that if only those poor souls had stumbled across the right weight-maintenance scheme earlier, they would never have developed an eating disorder.
Also, First Law Thermodynamics Bros, who are extremely obnoxious.
I am automatically suspect of their argument that the first law of thermodynamics proves that calories in, calories out will lose the weight because - well, obviously because of the evidence, and to steal their repeated little catchphrase, science both trumps ideology and doesn't care if you believe in it or not - but also because I'm familiar with Creationists who wildly misapply the third law of thermodynamics as some sort of weird "Checkmate, evolution!" line.
Now, the correct response to those creationists is to head them off at the pass with a bored "The earth's not a closed system, this doesn't apply" and then move on.
Looking up the first law, I see this:
The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of any isolated system (for which energy and matter transfer through the system boundary are not possible) is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can be neither created nor destroyed.
and double checking isolated system gets me:
1. a physical system so far removed from other systems that it does not interact with them.
2. a thermodynamic system enclosed by rigid immovable walls through which neither mass nor energy can pass.
Am I correct in my understanding that human bodies are not isolated systems and, therefore, we can all save a lot of time by saying "Nope, that doesn't apply here"?
The comments are just full of people who seem to intently believe that if only those poor souls had stumbled across the right weight-maintenance scheme earlier, they would never have developed an eating disorder.
Also, First Law Thermodynamics Bros, who are extremely obnoxious.
I am automatically suspect of their argument that the first law of thermodynamics proves that calories in, calories out will lose the weight because - well, obviously because of the evidence, and to steal their repeated little catchphrase, science both trumps ideology and doesn't care if you believe in it or not - but also because I'm familiar with Creationists who wildly misapply the third law of thermodynamics as some sort of weird "Checkmate, evolution!" line.
Now, the correct response to those creationists is to head them off at the pass with a bored "The earth's not a closed system, this doesn't apply" and then move on.
Looking up the first law, I see this:
The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of any isolated system (for which energy and matter transfer through the system boundary are not possible) is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can be neither created nor destroyed.
and double checking isolated system gets me:
1. a physical system so far removed from other systems that it does not interact with them.
2. a thermodynamic system enclosed by rigid immovable walls through which neither mass nor energy can pass.
Am I correct in my understanding that human bodies are not isolated systems and, therefore, we can all save a lot of time by saying "Nope, that doesn't apply here"?
