Obesity shortens expected lifespan by years, a decade for extreme obesity. If being thin was as achievable as wearing purple sweaters, choosing to remain obese would send an extremely strong signal about something.
Some life-shortening signals, such as riding a motorcycle, are considered cool (by some people).
it's not really the case that any given fat person can simply become not-fat through the atomic action "take a GLP-1"
some people get prohibitive side effects from GLP-1s. some people find them ineffective. many people find them somewhat effective and worth taking for the health benefits of being 30 pounds lighter but if you weigh 300 pounds then subtracting 30 isn't visually notable, and subtracting more than 30 is hard
some of these things can be worked around by experimenting with different GLP-1s in the hope some work better with fewer side effects, and being reliably on them for a long time, and doing some work to rework one's diet. but at that point the effort part of it is much bigger than the willingness to do this in principle part
I do think it is true that some people see a fat person and think "this person must be really unagentic to still be fat even though we have GLP-1s" but given the above I think that's just incorrect
it's not really the case that any given fat person can simply become not-fat through the atomic action "take a GLP-1"
No one said this is the case, though. If you replace "any given fat person" with "the vast majority of fat people", then the statement clearly holds.
Observing that someone is obese/overweight provides pretty strong evedence that they're not on GLPs. It could be the case that they are in the small minority of people who get prohibitive side effects or for whom they don't work, but in no practical circumstance is that the null hypothesis.
disagree, my sense is that "it works moderately such that you lose some weight but not to the point of not being fat anymore" is a very normal situation
1and for that matter "got problematic side effects on at least the first GLP-1 they tried" is also not uncommon in my anecdotal experience of friends who have talked about this at all at least
this isn't always prohibitive but (1) it can be, (2) even if it isn't it can make the process much slower bc you need to be on a lower dose or try different meds or figure out a protocol that works, (3) once you're in that kind of "need to figure out a protocol that works" regime rather than just a "try this one easy thing" regime, it's more like new lifestyle homework than an easy body hack
1If the pill was free, I guess being fat could still be interpreted as one of the following:
- has so horrible genes that even the pill cannot overcome that
- some kind of anti-vaxer
- doesn't give a fuck about social norms (and who knows what else)
On the positive-ish side, it could be interpreted as a costly signal of becoming to some subculture.
I don't think GLP-1 uptake is quite high enough for perception to change yet. That said, I think it'll ultimately stay the same. From being too unagentic to change one's diet and exercise patterns to being too unagentic to take GLP-1s. It's true that there are other reasons not to take GLP-1s, like a 'crunchy', 'all-natural' mindset, but a strong devotion to that belief system often precludes being overweight to begin with.
As for cost, I think economies of scale will handle part of this, and the government will eventually start subsidizing GLP-1 distribution to save money on healthcare costs. Beyond that, being physically attractive is a status symbol, and anyone that has an IPhone and a brand-name handbag today will likely have the peptides tomorrow.
I agree it's too soon. It's easy to forget, in our bubbles, that lots of insurers and providers are still balking at even semaglutide and trying to ration it, or, as we go to parties where people have been offering free retatrutide shots for years that it's still not officially approved by the FDA! A lot of people are still talking about how their 'new pickle juice diet' finally worked for them...
Interesting speculation, but if you think people don't read anything into the state, color, and style of your purple sweater (relative to the social Overton window), you're not paying attention.
It's such an easy-to-see and slow-to-change body state that I suspect it'll always be an important first-impression element.
Being fat seems to be interpreted—at least in some society—as a sign of inferior personal virtue: being lazy, greedy, lacking self control. It is also read, perhaps more accurately, as a sign of unfortunate genetics.
In the age of GLP-1 drugs and the like, being fat shifts to partially a sign of not taking GLP-1 drugs, which makes it increasingly a sign of different traits, such as lack of spare wealth and reluctance to chemically modify your body (albeit a very imperfect sign).
I wonder if such body modifications will reach a level of cheapness, availability and acceptance that it is hard to read much of interest into being fat at all, much as it is now hard to read much into someone having a purple sweater or not. And then people can be fat in peace.