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How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

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Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#81

Post by dm2 »

DanBC wrote: post #13
LukeWalsh wrote: post #2

It's unfortunate for Soylent to end up in such a situation given how easily it could have been prevented. For me however it does not discount the product in the least, and I would expect a rethinking of the production process to be posted soon in response.

> For me however it does not discount the product in the least You can get better products from reputable companies. Or you can buy this gloop, from a bunch of people who clearly have little clue about what they're doing.

> You can get better products from reputable companies.

What products specifically?

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#82

Post by abuehrle »

The three NYC food critics (11:20 in the video) really bugged me. Their immediate smug dismissal of the product and idea was predetermined. Maybe I'm reading too much into what was shown, but I got the impression that there was no possible world in which they give Soylent a chance.

I'm not necessarily a believer, but I'm noticing this behavior more and more often as I get older and it's increasingly bothering me.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#83

Post by jlgreco »

nightski wrote: post #65
dragontamer wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It certainly isn't a scam. However, I went to an engineering school, and have met Food Engineers. Food Engineering is a difficult branch of chemical engineering. You've got regulations, you've got people's lives at stake. The Soylent guys just went at it like a hacker: because thats what they are. They're taking the "startup culture" and trying to apply it to food. And that is incredibly dangerous. Anyone who has any…

The food industry as a whole is one big hack, even with it's fancy regulations and bureaucracy. People are dying constantly due to the failures of the industry. It is nice to see fresh ideas.

The maritime industry as a whole is one big hack, even with it's fancy regulations and bureaucracy. People are dying constantly due to the failures of the industry. It is nice to see fresh ideas.

That's why I am pitching my new great idea: submarines made of scrap steel I found in my back yard! The best part? No more hassle with pesky waves! Glide beneath the surface with the grace of an aquatic mammal.

Sure, some people have built submarines before, and they say it is really difficult to get right, but my idea is fresh by virtue of it being created by me, a SV engineer!

(Ignore that puncture in the test unit, somebody mishandled the shipping!)

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#84

Post by fleitz »

yuvadam wrote: post #69

Soylent might, technically, work. It might be safe and healthy, it definitely looks simple and allows you to forget anything related to grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up afterwards. But thinking about the prospect of the future makes me sick to my stomach. Soylent paints a disgustingly frightening dystopia where humans are fed 100% "correct" food to allow them to continue being cogs in the business machine, n…

Exactly, this will be a huge hit for quantified self people who want to reduce their existence down to a spreadsheet.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#85

Post by lowboy »

Pxtl wrote: post #68

> “You’re not going to feed a booming population with organic farms,” Rob says. This is a popular misconception. While organic farming requires far more labour than conventional farming and the yields are lower for the same land, it's not actually that much lower. We're talking about a 5-30% drop in yield. Not great, but not "OMG mass worldwide starvation" change. And that's while being vastly more efficient with fre…

Organic growing techniques use "vastly" less water? How so?

I'm guessing that there's a correlation between farmers who choose to grow organic and those who try to conserve water, but I can't see how one is "vastly" different.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#87

Post by jlgreco »

lowboy wrote: post #78
dragontamer wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you do, is then you hire a 10-year veteran of the food preparation business. What you DON'T do, is pickup a few textbooks on body chemistry and assume you can figure it all out by yourself.

Why not? The human body is a machine, and we can examine and alter that machine. We've been doing that throughout history. I don't like the early claims of Soylent being "perfectly optimized" and the like.

When a lawnmower breaks, you hit it really hard with a hefty wrench until it starts working again. Maybe even take it apart, clean it, and put it back together again. Worse case, you buy a new one and find yourself out a few thousand dollars.

Percussive maintenance doesn't work on humans. When humans break, they die.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#88

Post by lowboy »

yuvadam wrote: post #69

Soylent might, technically, work. It might be safe and healthy, it definitely looks simple and allows you to forget anything related to grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up afterwards. But thinking about the prospect of the future makes me sick to my stomach. Soylent paints a disgustingly frightening dystopia where humans are fed 100% "correct" food to allow them to continue being cogs in the business machine, n…

Going on a Soylent diet doesn't mean that you'll be a cog or that your vision of the future will come to pass.

Granted, I too am terrified of that future coming to pass, but it doesn't follow from increased Soylent consumpion.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#89

Post by fleitz »

beambot wrote: post #80
yuvadam wrote: post #69

Soylent might, technically, work. It might be safe and healthy, it definitely looks simple and allows you to forget anything related to grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up afterwards. But thinking about the prospect of the future makes me sick to my stomach. Soylent paints a disgustingly frightening dystopia where humans are fed 100% "correct" food to allow them to continue being cogs in the business machine, n…

Or... it could put humanity in a position to provide a balanced nutrition as a fundamental human right, delivered right to your doorstep by USPS. If the economics worked out it could be provided everywhere worldwide, and then other food consumption could be purely for enjoyment. There are always people who scream "dystopia!" every time a new technology arrives. That seems very pessimistic.

This is a very progressive idea, lets add housing to that, so that everyone will have a place to stay, something to eat and something to do.

I can see the large halls feeding the masses, I've even heard tale of a boy named Oliver who wants even more soylent it's so delicious.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#90

Post by stinkytaco »

fleitz wrote: post #59
bowlofpetunias wrote: post #32

EDIT: Unbelievable. Both the title and the link to the article I commented on have been swapped from the PandoDaily article ( http://pandodaily.com/2013/11/12/vice-investigates-soylent-f... ) to the Vice article which PandoDaily referred to, but that tries to give it a positive spin. This goes well beyond whatever policy pg was trying to defend recently. This is deeply manipulative. --- It looks a scam, it sounds lik…

Shush, they have plenty of testimonials from real customers saying it works. Soylent is a true superfood unlike scams like acai berry juice. Solves long standing dietary issues that have gone unsolved by modern medicine? Check. Helps you lose weight? Check. Saves time and money? Check. Testimonials? Check. Even people with sciency sounding backgrounds think it's good! Let me just get out my credit card and sign up fo…

OK, so I like cooking and eating food. I think soylent is a scam, or at the very least just another in a long line of unappetizing "diet replacement shakes".

But just allow me a moment to conduct a thought experiment, or at least play devil's advocate.

For years you've been walking to get where you are going and you've been plowing your fields with a couple of very high maintenance animals that are costly and risky. You've been walking out to their stalls and feeding, cleaning and otherwise dedicating lots of time and money to them. It's a lot of work. One day along comes a guy with a machine that replaces animals. Not only will it replace animals in your fields, the same machine will replace walking to get where you're going. A neighbor got it and he swears by it.

Saves time and money? Check.

Solves long standing issues that have gone unsolved by modern technology? Check.

Helps you produce more in your fields and make more money? Check.

Say goodbye to expensive and time consuming animals and sore feet, hello easy street.

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