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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

#191

Post by jlgreco »

dragontamer wrote: post #180
jlgreco wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Show me some evidence or even some indication that Soylent will result in an irreversible and sudden decline in health. > If it fails to live up to the hype, it's reversible. Once again, demanding evidence that something is unsafe instead of providing evidence that it is not, then in the same breath taking that it is not for granted. Is that all you are wired to do? It's like what I'm saying is going in one ear and…

To be fair, it is "startup hackathon culture" to think like this. If you build software that doesn't work, people get pissed off and yell at you on web-forums... but in the great scheme of things that's not a big deal. The main downside is that once you leave software, startup culture becomes incredibly dangerous. If you build an airplane that "doesn't work", people die. If you build a train that "doesn't work", the…

Absolutely agree, it definitely is "startup hackathon culture".

Well, that combined with typical SV engineer hubris. Being bright in your field and well paid does not mean that you can be the master of any field. Some engineering disciplines require tighter tolerances. Some fields, particularly those that use human subjects, have much tighter ethical and safety requirements.

It seems as though being immersed in SV startup culture for too long can render somebody literally unable to comprehend the notion of more stringent requirements and regulations existing.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#192

Post by jlgreco »

lowboy wrote: post #179
jlgreco wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Show me some evidence or even some indication that Soylent will result in an irreversible and sudden decline in health. > If it fails to live up to the hype, it's reversible. Once again, demanding evidence that something is unsafe instead of providing evidence that it is not, then in the same breath taking that it is not for granted. Is that all you are wired to do? It's like what I'm saying is going in one ear and…

That's the thing, absent any negative information a dietary change shouldn't need rigourous proof. Unless there's any indication that Soylent will do irreparable damage from day 1, I see no good reason for an individual not to try it and monitor their progress. If it doesn't work for them, then they can stop using it. How hard is that? How is that breaking anyone? I don't treat human life lightly. You're just treatin…

> Unless there's any indication that Soylent will do irreparable damage from day 1, I see no good reason for an individual not to try it and monitor their progress.

You are demonstrating a very basic failure to analyze risk, understand the variety of medical risks that can be posed by experimental diets, and indeed understand the concerns that other people are raising (the concern is not that you will die after drinking it three times in a row.....).

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#193

Post by tolmasky »

freyrs3 wrote: post #143
tolmasky wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its funny because we already live in this dystopia and you simply don't notice it because the plastic food we eat "looks real" and "tastes good". What is the difference between the completely artificial hamburger people get at McDonalds and Soylent? The fact that its basically "molded" to look like the real food we used to eat? The reality is that we long ago crossed the line into having a society that mostly eats ab…

> let's tell everyone carbohydrates are the most important staple to eat and let's put corn and sugar in everything Seems to be conflating two parties here. The USDA guidelines are written by government nutritionists and there are sound scientific reasons for recommending the base of any diet be grains. Though being a free country, whether or not the private sector decides to put corn syrup in everything is their own…

As has already been stated by other commentors, the USDA has frequently been shown to have many conflicts of interests (ranging from their own stated goals to the appointment of many industry insiders -- much like the military industrial complex revolving doors).

> Though being a free country, whether or not the private sector decides to put corn syrup in everything is their own prerogative and unrelated to government guidelines.

Through subsidization of crops (namely corn), the government has created an economic environment where it is not always feasible to create a competitive product that doesn't use certain ingredients. Through the government's vilification of fat, they have created a marketing environment where it is hard to sell high-fat low-sugar foods. If HFCS is significantly cheaper than other ingredients, and if you are pressured to provide foods with low fat, then by using alternative ingredients you could price yourself out of the mainstream. Note: this does not mean you can't make the product, it just means that it will be more expensive and you have to explain to your customer WHY its more expensive. We of course see this in the more expensive "niche" health products. The sad result of this is often the more affluent members of society who can afford such niche products get healthier alternatives, while the poor of society get the unhealthy foods, through a combination of lack of education and lack of funds.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#194

Post by foobarqux »

wil421 wrote: post #33

People dont realize what little regulations supplements face compared to "food". Most products you buy at nutrition/health stores (like GNC/Vitamin Shoppe/etc.) are not really tested. You can pretty much be getting chalk and no one will know. Or you get an overdose of Ephedra and die.

See superdrol (anabolic steroid with high liver toxicity) and Craze (meth analog)

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#195

Post by nakedrobot2 »

tolmasky wrote: post #115
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…

Its funny because we already live in this dystopia and you simply don't notice it because the plastic food we eat "looks real" and "tastes good". What is the difference between the completely artificial hamburger people get at McDonalds and Soylent? The fact that its basically "molded" to look like the real food we used to eat? The reality is that we long ago crossed the line into having a society that mostly eats ab…

You go ahead and eat your fake food.

I'll continue working very hard but still have time for my family, and I also eat real food.

Heck, I can cook a whole pizza from scratch in 30 minutes, dough included. Now that's a hack that's centuries old I'm guessing. No, I'm not putting it on Kickstarter :-)

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#196

Post by genwin »

Afforess wrote: post #189
hokkos wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Soylent guy keep mentioning that current food system will not scale, but gives no evidence that his system will. It appears to be very wasteful to grow or synthesize each components in their original form, separate them and then finally mix them, compared to naturally occurring food.

Current agricultural practices are highly unsustainable. We are mere decades to depleting all groundwater aquifers in North America. Fertilizer pollutes most waterways. Pesticides are seeping into most groundwater in the central US. And you think we should scale our processes larger? Insanity.

Does Soylent not contribute to those same problems?

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#197

Post by avenger123 »

gtaylor wrote: post #103
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…

There are also those of us that derive no joy from eating. Eating is an inconvenience to me. I have zero sweet tooth, and I don't have many cravings for specific foods. I'd rather be doing any number of other things, like reading, working out, yard/car work, calling up family, etc. I work for myself (and work reasonable hours). Of course, all of this anecdotal, but the point is that this isn't a dystopia scenario for…

Have you ever looked into getting any testing done with regards to your sense of taste? It would be interesting to see if this is an issue for you.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#198

Post by JacksonGariety »

Afforess wrote: post #184
timr wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes...the "McDonald's is bad, so let's feed people glop instead" argument. How about this: let's help people get access to, appreciate, and learn how to prepare "real" food, instead of jumping to the lowest common denominator. That's what I'd call "disruption".

Except the "glop", as you put it, is nutritionally healthy and McDonalds is not.

I will agree with this once I see a study showing consuming nothing but soylent has no effect on a person's happiness or mental well-being.

Dehumanization is worse than diabetes.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#199

Post by tolmasky »

timr wrote: post #129
tolmasky wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its funny because we already live in this dystopia and you simply don't notice it because the plastic food we eat "looks real" and "tastes good". What is the difference between the completely artificial hamburger people get at McDonalds and Soylent? The fact that its basically "molded" to look like the real food we used to eat? The reality is that we long ago crossed the line into having a society that mostly eats ab…

Ah yes...the "McDonald's is bad, so let's feed people glop instead" argument. How about this: let's help people get access to, appreciate, and learn how to prepare "real" food, instead of jumping to the lowest common denominator. That's what I'd call "disruption".

My main point was simply that I find it strange that people criticize Soylent for a problem that in my mind already exists in a worse form. I myself am a "real food" advocate -- I just think its silly to think that Soylent will bring about the "food dystopia", and if it does, it will be no worse than our current food dystopia.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#200

Post by nollidge »

lowboy wrote: post #141
jlgreco wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back to your hyper-relaxed "the human body is no more complicated or serious than a machine" thing? I can't believe I have not made myself clear on this already, but I'll give it one more go: You can fuck around with lawn mowers because breaking one typically doesn't fucking kill somebody. If you break your fucking lawnmower, you buy a new one. You don't get to buy another human. Such a lazy attitude towards human sa…

It's only a problem if it harms a human suddenly and irreversibly. I'm guessing that anyone who was suffering problems from a dietary change would have time to correct. Show me some evidence or even some indication that Soylent will result in an irreversible and sudden decline in health. I'm guessing that you won't, or can't. Your argument is "We don't know, so let's not risk it". The risk here is minimal. If it fail…

> The risk here is minimal.

How do you know that?

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