Too much serendipity
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Too much serendipity
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Re: Too much serendipity
#2> Look at sucrose and aspartame side by side:
> Molecular structures of sucrose and aspartame, looking very different I can’t imagine someone looking at these two molecules and thinking “surely they taste the same”.
They don’t taste the same. Aspartame has a very nasty aftertaste as compared to sucrose.
Re: Too much serendipity
#3> Look at sucrose and aspartame side by side: > Molecular structures of sucrose and aspartame, looking very different I can’t imagine someone looking at these two molecules and thinking “surely they taste the same”. They don’t taste the same. Aspartame has a very nasty aftertaste as compared to sucrose.
Yes, to my taste, all the sweeteners have an aftertaste and an odor including stevia.
Re: Too much serendipity
#4I loved the writing but I don't get the point or the title.
Am I supposed to infer some sort of conspiracy theory? or is it just supposed to be funny?
Re: Too much serendipity
#5> Look at sucrose and aspartame side by side: > Molecular structures of sucrose and aspartame, looking very different I can’t imagine someone looking at these two molecules and thinking “surely they taste the same”. They don’t taste the same. Aspartame has a very nasty aftertaste as compared to sucrose.
I wonder if people have different genetic predispositions that influences how sugar taste to them. Like I have with cilantro (a bit, a tiny tiny bit is okayish but more than that and it's.. ugh... it's not even soap it's.. bleh..).
Re: Too much serendipity
#6> Look at sucrose and aspartame side by side: > Molecular structures of sucrose and aspartame, looking very different I can’t imagine someone looking at these two molecules and thinking “surely they taste the same”. They don’t taste the same. Aspartame has a very nasty aftertaste as compared to sucrose.
Yes, to my taste, all the sweeteners have an aftertaste and an odor including stevia.
Re stevia, apparently how you taste it is determined by how sensitive your bitter taste receptors happen to be. It’s somehow also related to why some people can’t stand cilantro, for example.
For me, stevia is simply sweet with no aftertaste so I guess I’m lucky in this regard.
Re: Too much serendipity
#7What a fabulous analysis! The serendipity is remarkably high!
I suppose penicillin might be a good addition to the list of powerful compounds discovered by happenstance?
Does this mean that innovation is basically a brute force calculation? Humans simply trying permutations until something hits?
Re: Too much serendipity
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, to my taste, all the sweeteners have an aftertaste and an odor including stevia.
Re stevia, apparently how you taste it is determined by how sensitive your bitter taste receptors happen to be. It’s somehow also related to why some people can’t stand cilantro, for example. For me, stevia is simply sweet with no aftertaste so I guess I’m lucky in this regard.
Stevia? My wife has much stronger bitter receptors than most people (including me, and I thought mine were strong) but Stevia is fine for her.
Aspartame, though, she absolutely despises.
I think they're both fine, but I can pick up a hint of what she dislikes from Aspartame.
Sucralose is also fine for both of us.
Re: Too much serendipity
#9I loved the writing but I don't get the point or the title. Am I supposed to infer some sort of conspiracy theory? or is it just supposed to be funny?
I don't think it's meant to imply a conspiracy, rather that lab safety around novel compounds is probably not as tight as people assume it is.
I will put forth another (possible) explanation: fake sugar has to be widely marketed, and "we were doing Important Science when we accidentally discovered this fake sugar" is a more marketable, easy-to-understand story than "we added/removed groups on a range of compounds determined likely to be sweet based on a literature review, in order of how amenable the reactions are to mass production, then tested each of them in rats".
Re: Too much serendipity
#10What a fabulous analysis! The serendipity is remarkably high! I suppose penicillin might be a good addition to the list of powerful compounds discovered by happenstance? Does this mean that innovation is basically a brute force calculation? Humans simply trying permutations until something hits?
Considering how we all seem to be the product of millions of years of hit-or-miss natural selection, it feels almost natural that our advancements have also had a great deal of luck/improbability.