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Soylent International

blog.soylent.me

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Re: Soylent International

#41

Post by chasing »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #29
tokenadult wrote: post #20

This is perhaps the worst example of people who learn their science and medicine from reading Reddit that I have yet seen in the Hacker News community. It illustrates the fallibility of human nature behind every new business scheme, and shows that a business doesn't have to be a big, multinational publicly traded corporation to engage in business with little regard for customer safety or public benefit. AFTER EDIT: I…

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that you don't actually know where this guy learned his science and medicine. Let people experiment on themselves. IMO there are enough humans that if a few get slightly ill from this, it is worth it for the chance that it does work (which seems significant given the experimentation he did on himself, the presence of similar, competing products, etc.).

Rob Rhinehart's bio starts: "Rob is a Y Combinator alumnus with professional experience in electrical engineering, computer science and entrepreneurship."

If he had some powerful degree in nutrition or a medical degree, it would be mentioned in this sentence. It's not. He doesn't.

And he's not experimenting on himself. He's selling a product that he's advertising as a food replacement with all sorts of health benefits.

As far as "it's cool if a few people get sick..." Are you insane?

Re: Soylent International

#42

Post by axefrog »

How the heck are people enthusiastic about this? Are there really that many people that take no enjoyment from the flavours, colours, textures and smells of the food they eat? And that's not to mention the fact that the body craves variety, the need for which it manifests by making you feel sick of eating the same thing over and over again.

Re: Soylent International

#43

Post by Afforess »

axefrog wrote: post #42

How the heck are people enthusiastic about this? Are there really that many people that take no enjoyment from the flavours, colours, textures and smells of the food they eat? And that's not to mention the fact that the body craves variety, the need for which it manifests by making you feel sick of eating the same thing over and over again.

Yep. I hate cooking, and honestly I end up eating like the same exact 5 meals every week. Apparently there are $500000 worth of us, so there's a market.

Re: Soylent International

#44

Post by Afforess »

tokenadult wrote: post #20

This is perhaps the worst example of people who learn their science and medicine from reading Reddit that I have yet seen in the Hacker News community. It illustrates the fallibility of human nature behind every new business scheme, and shows that a business doesn't have to be a big, multinational publicly traded corporation to engage in business with little regard for customer safety or public benefit. AFTER EDIT: I…

I find the HN hate for this guy incredible. The NSA is less loathed. Do you need to be a nutritionist with a PhD to open a restaurant? Why does he need to be one?

Re: Soylent International

#45

Post by nostromo »

I just can't get over the name.

If someone tells you, "hey, the cook spit in your food" -- it doesn't matter if the cook actually did, you're going to be grossed out by the food because you're in an icky state of mind.

So, while I know Soylent is not made out of people, it just makes the product less appetizing than it would otherwise be.

However, maybe this is just a problem for people who dig old scifi.

Re: Soylent International

#48

Post by Avshalom »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #29
tokenadult wrote: post #20

This is perhaps the worst example of people who learn their science and medicine from reading Reddit that I have yet seen in the Hacker News community. It illustrates the fallibility of human nature behind every new business scheme, and shows that a business doesn't have to be a big, multinational publicly traded corporation to engage in business with little regard for customer safety or public benefit. AFTER EDIT: I…

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that you don't actually know where this guy learned his science and medicine. Let people experiment on themselves. IMO there are enough humans that if a few get slightly ill from this, it is worth it for the chance that it does work (which seems significant given the experimentation he did on himself, the presence of similar, competing products, etc.).

>it is worth it for the chance that

Whats the value here? This is just another proprietary nutrient slurry. We already have those.

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