What scares me is that people who are, say, addicted to sugary soda, will be treated punitively by the system for making poor choices, rather than as someone who is afflicted with an expensive pre-existing condition (sugar addiction).
You don't have the same problem with, e.g. car insurance. Either you're speeding or you're not.
If you drive in a "bad neighborhood" they could penalize you there, which has very real potential to be racially discriminative. And this data could be given to police, who could use it to make a case against you just for appearing to drive in a similar pattern as a criminal. Giving companies this data is dangerous.
Well, I have general sympathy for the privacy topics discussed here just as any other average Joe, but painting sugar addicts as some helpless victims is a bit of a stretch to be polite.
At least we can agree it is something negative. But I fail to have much sympathy for people who simply have to buy ice cream, chocolate, soda etc. You put the products in the shopping cart yourself knowing well it harms you, you use your cash/card to pay for it.
Sugar addiction is real, but it doesn't make you a zombie without any free will. If you want to paint yourself as pathetic weakling without your own will, that's your own personal choice and be clear about this with everybody, especially yourself. But you are not describing sugar issues, but your own underlying mental issues that can and should be tackled by professional.
Man up (or woman up), own your shit and have some respect for yourself.
On one hand, people at a healthy weight throughout their adolescence who start a slow and gradual weight gain with their 'Freshman 15' that ends with being moderately chubby in middle age - yes, you're correct, that's not only the result of poor life choices, but it can probably be corrected with better ones.
On the other hand, some people have negligent or ignorant parents and are (as a result) overweight or obese from a young age. This dramatically cripples their ability to make healthy food choices at an adult because it bakes in their psychological weight set point at an unhealthily high level very early on, and so normal attempts at intervention make their body think it is being starved. These folks need more than just life advice, they need medical intervention, or they stand a low chance of digging themselves out of their holes. And if they can't do that, it's a detriment not just to them but to society as a whole, which will eventually have to foot the bill for their medical costs later in life.
> I fail to have much sympathy for people who simply have to buy ice cream, chocolate, soda etc. You put the products in the shopping cart yourself knowing well it harms you, you use your cash/card to pay for it.
What about alcohol addiction? Heroin? What about depression?
You don't have the same problem with, e.g. car insurance. Either you're speeding or you're not.