Omnivores by Design? (Nikocado Avocado vs. Vegan Gains, etc.)

a lot of people asked me to respond to
the one the only nikka kado avocado i think some of the people asked me to respond are sincerely interested in what i have to say about the controversy and some of the people asking me to respond just want to hear me say that nick is an idiot well here's your door prize nick is a idiot i did watch and i did enjoy the video bye vegan gains responded at Naqada avocado if you haven't seen the original comments from Nick skip it it's boring as hell unless you really get some kind of erotic thrill of watching a grown man break down weeping on camera over some um vegan gains managed to make an interesting and entertaining and informative video in response to that and that's an art form and Richard I got love for you I'm amazed you had the patience energy to do that I don't there are maybe just two points I think Richard did not address in that video that I would like to address here and now point one is the argument from design now argument from design in formal academic philosophy we normally talk about in relation to the existence of God people who fallaciously try to reason that we can prove that God exists because there's design inherent in the universe but actually it's part of a much broader problem in reasoning in reasoning itself which you might call the teleological fallacy or just T Elyot teleological thinking let's leave the fallacy out of it I mean fallacy fallacy is such a judgmental word teleological thinking is a problem because you're looking at the end point of something and presuming that it reflects an intention or a design so we can make statements I mean I remember I read a great scientific article about why is cannibalism so unhealthy for humans whereas many other mammals can engage in cannibalism without adverse health effects and it went through what the chemical factors are and basically the accidents of biology the accent of evolution as it happens human physiology cannot cope with cannibalism well at all it's terrible for us it's really dangerous for us and there were other mammals who can does that reflect something moral in the universes that reflect a design or a plan or a God's intention or anything else nope that's just how it worked out and if cannibalism was the healthiest thing for you imaginable we'd still have the same ethical questions and ethical problems with engaging a cannibalism we just have to say it doesn't doesn't cause any side effects as it happens we are very very poorly evolved to cope with eating our fellow human beings and we are quite poorly evolved biologically to cope with a diet based on meat and cheese etc but that is happenstance nikka kado I mean his whole breakdown his whole conniption there's a word you don't hear every day conniption this is like 1930s style think old old comic books like from the 30s spare me your conniption a a conniption fit that's slang from the 30s old detective movies he's having a conniption all right nikka kados hole on camera connection he gets so worked up by saying are we or are we not designed to eat meat we can even say this no are we or not are we are we not meant to eat meat but although life is meaningful there's a real sense in which there is no meaning in life in the sense that you can't look at the ends of something and think teleology Clee because this exists it is meant to be there's a meaning or there's an intention buying the habits to ask the fact that cheese is unhealthy as hell for thoughts if bacon were the healthiest thing on earth we'd still have the same arguments going on about veganism but as it happens it's not and you know this problem again it's not limited when you say argument from design teleological fallacy most people will think you're talking about religion Christianity argues with existence of God it's not limited to that this problem all the time I hear left-wingers I hear so-called an T capital making arguments based on the premise that capitalism is designed to blank that capitalism is intentionally designed to have this or that evil consequence it's designed to have this or that weakness it's a design of this or that reliance and even though it's a subtle difference it's actually really important if you're gonna engage in a critique of the capitalist system not to start with that delusion or not to drive towards proving to it but to look at capitalism as a bunch of social assumptions that came about unplanned that came about tell Mel nobody sat down and came up with a perfect design are you to a utopia and blueprint for what a capitalist society was supposed to be and a great comparison that two is by the way nobody ever sat down and came up with a perfect design for what a feudal society is supposed to be different social forces pushed and pulled at the reality of life as in Europe as the Roman Empire fell apart there was a king called Charlemagne there were all these wars with the Muslim world and you know there were different socio-economic pressures in response to which you had the emergence of feudalism and now we can look back retrospectively and come up with a checklist and say okay how do we define feudalism we can look back and say how do we define capitalism there are certain features and we say ok this is a capitalist society and if it lacks those features it would not be a capitalist society but there's a sense in which there is no design there is no intention there is no system and what it's really misleading to even think in terms of we were meant to eat meat we were meant to oppress the poor we were meant to rise up in a revolution because inequality under capitalism thought life is meaningful but in that sense there is no meaning in life and theological thinking is terribly terribly misleading whether it's in the theatre of nutritional science or in the theatre of economic science and you know Nick my heart goes out to you in some ways I've broken down weep on camera before I think there are a lot of reasons to break down weeping on camera and I think it is bold and I can respect it sharing your doubts sharing your misgivings sharing that side of your life via YouTube I'm all for anybody who's keeping it real but on another level you know like Richard like making gains I'm sitting there thinking damn you're gonna weep about this nutritional doubts about the adequacy of a vegan diet aren't short-term they're not something we're going to overcome ever they're always gonna be there we're just gonna go through a period of progress where we switch from some of the most naive misconceptions of veganism we switch from people just telling you a vegan diet doesn't have enough protein to more and more sophisticated and elaborate arguments we're now dealing with people telling us there isn't enough DHA in the vegan diet unless you are a pregnant female there is no reason to worry about DHA being inadequately got pregnant females should worry early childhood development should worry as an adult male there is no scientific reason for you to worry about getting up DHA none however it's true we're progressing from an early stage of relatively shizune and stupid doubts of the adequate of the adequacy the vegan diet to more and more elaborate sophisticated one but those doubts will be with us always always anytime you're on a vegan diet and you feel like crap the easiest thought to have is maybe it's because of my vegan diet and you know what on that level maybe it is if you're on a diet that consists of pork and yogurt and you feel like crap I thought that should come to your head is maybe I feel like crap because I'm eating pork and yogurt and maybe it is on that level of Bro science of personal observation where you're just looking in the mirror and asking yourself how do I feel today people are always gonna have those kind of doubts and there are always gonna be rumors circulating on the internet whether it's about DHA or protein or some crazy micronutrient or form of fat molecule we named for yet some new Sciences come there are always going to be doubts circulating about the vegan diet on some level for each of us engaging on a vegan diet is an experiment and the challenge is to experiment and find a diet that works with our lifestyle where I live where I'm living whether you're living in Colombia or Cambodia whether you're living in Canada or China to find some that works for you in terms of your health it is hard work and in so many ways you're throwing out the accumulated knowledge and experience of your own life from your childhood up to the moment we decided become vegan and at some extent you're throwing out the whole cultural experience of your parents and your grandparents going back a thousand years if you grew up Italian with a thousand years of Italian food culture behind you a thousand years of tradition then you decide to become vegan you're throwing all that out the challenge isn't just scientific its cultural it's figuring how to feed yourself in a way that feels good where the fits with your schedule not everybody has the time to boil beans for several hours some people are you know looking for a diet that's gonna fit into a hectic work life it's gonna fit so many things there is a level on which veganism for each of us individually when we start off is an experiment it's experimental an experiment by definition is something you undertake without knowing whether the outcome is going to be good or bad but I'm here to tell you ethically environmentally ecologically this experiment is really worth doing and compared to any other political movement any other social justice movement in history of the world any other moral cause you can support with your time with your money with your effort with your protest has anyone ever asked less of you to save the planet to make the world a better place than becoming vegan if you want to help refugees in Syria I was just argued somebody on skype a couple days ago he went there he went to the refugee camps on the border with Syria he was out there with the refugees if you want to make that sacrifice that's asking a lot short term long term and he was learning Arabic he was hitting the books to learn Arabic to do kind of humanity remark huge sacrifice it's going to change his life forever don't about Syrian refugees in the internet you give a you buy that airplane ticket you enroll in those Arabic courses you start doing fundraising you start handing out blankets to Syrian refugees you can do it right now you know what if you're going to do this vegan thing yes there's an experimental aspect to it yes you are gonna suffer a little bit compared to any other movement any other moral cause you tell me who has suffered less nikka kado when you wipe the tears off your face man up and take on that challenge we expect better of you and you should exert better of yourself