I think you might have an inflated sense of how hard it is to get on the NYT bestseller list. Just go a little bit viral for one week and you’re done. https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/9/13/16257084/bestseller-lists-explained
andavargas
To connect the concepts here with some existing work: the special case of “frame control” where the result is self-doubt is also called “gaslighting.”
I’m not suggesting she came up with the term “frame control”—I’m suggesting she wrote several thousand words about gaslighting and didn’t mention the word “gaslighting.” It goes without saying that she didn’t engage at all with the vast commentary on the topic of gaslighting, which covers almost everything she said. I agree with the top comment from Anna Salamon that this post is clearly preliminary work and a few steps away still from good scholarship. A post integrating frame control, gaslighting, and the deployment of language in the exercise of power could get there; a post mentioning those things would be a significant improvement.
A theory that appeals to me although I am not an obesity researcher is the torpor/omega-ratio theory of obesity. It states that obesity results from an activation of hibernation metabolism (torpor) by an elevated ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 PUFAs in the diet. Humans do not hibernate but our mammalian ancestors did, and the theory is that those metabolic pathways are latent in our biochemistry.
The activation of hibernation metabolism and fat mass gain by high omega-6 to omega-3 ratios is documented in the literature for hibernating mammals, and the ratios of omega-6 to omega-3 PUFAs in Western diets have skyrocketed in the past several decades due to vegetable oils. I think I first heard of this theory from this blog. It could certainly be coupled with the Hyperpalatable Food Theory.
“Essays from the Noosphere: Twelve Artificial Intelligences Reflect on Life, the Universe, and Everything”
This seems to ignore the quite plausible scenario where an AI-written book finds itself a Schelling point for folks who use their bookshelf as a signaling mechanism. Being 100% AI and 0% human would be a boon in that scenario even if the book is a little rough around the edges.