This isn't really true. Even mature, sophisticated attempts at making hierarchical classification systems (e.g. the UDC[0]) don't claim to have created a system where each document gets a unique leaf on a tree, and indeed instead attempt provide some syntax for adding additional metadata into its "nodes," i.e. the nodes become the sum of their tags.
For an example of harder-than-np-complete, I was shocked to find out how hard vector reachability is after being presented with a vector reachability problem and assuming I could just look up a reasonable-time algorithm.
I incorrectly assumed it would have some basic linear algebra solution because of how simple the problem seemed.
This is not at all obvious. Freezing veggies involves washing, cutting, and blanching processes and vegetables may be subjected to ultrasound during freezing to accelerate the process.
That's why I gravitate towards the 'hyper-palatable' label vs 'hyper-processed', to me it captures a more plausible set of criteria (engineered via fat/sugar/salt addition to maximize its appeal, etc) that cause a more plausible and specific set of problems (hijacking reward pathways to cause overeating, etc)
There is a Peter Attia interview with Michael Easter that explores this concept and anecdotally supports it, where he investigates a tribe (Tsimane tribe) with low obesity and cardiovascular disease, and his personal experience eating their plain and unseasoned diet compared to normal western foods.
I normally dislike the typical podcasters/podcasts because of their self promoting and low information density nature but I thought this one was ok to recommend.
If you want it from an industrial perspective, I suggest checking out “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us“ by Michael Moss, and “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite” by David A. Kessler, former head of the FDA.
This is a shortsighted view. There are plenty of counterpoints, from things like documenting slaughterhouse practices to conservatives implementing policies while simultaneously limiting research into the outcomes of those policies.
Obviously most of the 'AI researchers' right now are not altruistic, but it is possible to take the position that advancing AI will be sufficiently valuable to society that it overrides corporate preferences against bulk scraping.
The ELI5 version is that atoms are all trying to find a comfy place to be. Typically, they make some friends and hang out together, which makes them very comfy, and we call the group of friend-atoms a molecule. Sometimes there are groups of friendly atoms that would be even comfier if they swapped a few friends around, but losing friends and making new friends can be scary and seem like it won't be comfy, so it takes a bit of a push to convince the atoms to do it. That push is precisely activation energy, and the rearrangement won't happen without it (modulo quantum tunneling but this is the ELI5 version.)
In the software world, everyone is trying to make "good" software. Just like atoms in molecules, our ideas and systems form bonds with other ideas and systems where those bonds seem beneficial. But sometimes we realize there are better arrangements that weren't obvious at the outset, so we have to break apart the groupings that formed originally. That act of breakage and reforming takes energy, and is messy, and is exactly what this author is writing about.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Decimal_Classificati...