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Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

blog.soylent.me

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Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#71

Post by maged »

bpodgursky wrote: post #51
betterunix wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Bitcoin has no rigorous security definition. 2. Bitcoin can be "attacked" (for some vague notion of what it means to attack a system that has no security definition) in polynomial time. 3. The economics of Bitcoin are extremely suspect and based on a poorly developed economic model, supported by neither the Austrian school nor by modern monetary theory. This is probably the underlying cause of the lack of a securi…

Adding a few of my own peeves: 4. Bitcoin is inherently deflationary, which is an awful idea if you talk to anyone who knows anything about money 5. Bitcoin is fundamentally backed by pointlessly wasting CPU cycles and wasting energy trying to reverse hashes.

5 is pretty equivalent to the mining of precious metals (well those with no practical applications).

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#72

Post by salemh »

ballard wrote: post #34
kazagistar wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A promise to open source their ingredients list, and if I remember correctly, their sourcing and supply chain, is tremendous. Not to mention the last I heard they were going full vegan.

A friend evaluated these folks about 4 months ago and concluded there was too much hype. Since none of this has happened, this is a pattern of not following through. You be the judge.

Can you be more detailed?

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#73

Post by babby »

mikemoka wrote: post #24

How is it possible that a fixed diet may fit every different lifestyle? I mean, would soylent be enough for people going to gym frequently? would it be too much for people always working at home?

Basically the formula is supposed to be customizable. Ie. more protein for body builders etc.

If it becomes big, which, I guess is possible, it only makes sense for the Soylent community to hack away. Im thinking it may evolve into few solid recipes that can be mass-distributed and then for those who want fine grained control they can get the separate ingredients/supplements themselves and either modify an existing recipe or create one from scratch.

This whole thing would be pretty stupid-er if it was only going to be one recipe.

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#75

Post by babby »

ballard wrote: post #50
nazgulnarsil wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a list of myths , with the thesis that things are getting better. Try some reading comprehension.

I skimmed it because it was not worth my time. Try civility. Mmm tasty. =)

Then in future dont make comments, it's part of the HN etiquette is it not, to actually read the subject matter you're talking about?

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#76

Post by westicle »

anologwintermut wrote: post #60
dragonwriter wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VC-funded startups have exactly the same kind of incentives that result in Big Food not producing healthier products than health-over-maximizing-profits oriented independents. Sure, they are going to want to differentiate from existing Big Food products (so do new Big Food products), but otherwise, the trust factors are pretty much the same.

Actually, startups have worse incentives. Startups have the idea that they can be bought out be someone. At which point any legal liabilities(form say inaccurate advertising as a meal replacement/health claims/long term health consequences/ death) are the buyers problem. Say what you will about "big food," but they will be around to be sued in 20 - 50 years. It means they have incentives to actually careful about wha…

Just wanted to correct this understanding.

Just because I sell something doesn't make me exempt from the legal consequences of my actions prior. If I negligently claim that a product will make you healthier and it cripples you, then you can sue me regardless of whether I still own the product. Similarly, I could be prosecuted for dishonest advertising type offences (which aren't wiped clean simply by selling a business!).

You might be talking about a products liability type claim.

Only an incompetent acquirer would take liability for any latent claims in a target acquiree. Most likely they will get strong warranties from the seller about the existence of claims and rely on their own due diligence to ensure they aren't buying a product which is likely to cripple people in the future.

In 90% of cases the seller will retain liability for incidents which pre-date the sale of their business.

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#77

Post by pydave »

ynniv wrote: post #29
cube13 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I suspect that the interest comes from the radical branding. "Ensure" is associated with hospitals and the aging population, whereas "Soylent" is historically associated with dystopia and recently with some ambitious kids. And people. It's associated with people.

Nice. It is an extremely good name for what it is, and it might (sadly?) succeed based on that alone. Countless energy drinks have paved the way.

Really?

Soylent sounds like it's made of soy, but the name essentially means cannibalism. I'd expect the former to kill enthusiasm from the energy drink market (where the cannibalism angle makes it sound more extreme) and the latter to put off everyone else.

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#78

Post by javert »

gruseom wrote: post #58
qaruxj wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but I don't trust anyone who uses the phrase "Big ______". Your argument isn't even coherent. You're just making a fallacious appeal by putting the scary capital-B "Big" in front of a random noun and acting like that's supposed to mean something. Who makes up "Big Food"? Who controls "Big Food"? Why does "Big Food" necessarily make less healthy products than "independents"? I agree that a lot of mass produced…

He's not allowed to say "Big", but you can say "mass produced"? Those are pretty close. Why does "Big Food" necessarily make less healthy products than "independents"? I agree that a lot of mass produced food is unhealthy and probably excessively seasoned and sweetened to improve market appeal Take out that hedgey "necessarily" and you've answered your own question. that isn't really an argument To say that Ensure is…

> He's not allowed to say "Big", but you can say "mass produced"? Those are pretty close.

No, because "Big _____" is a Progressive catchphrase that is normally used to villify whatever their target is and rationalize taking away some freedom from the marketplace, wheras "mass produced" just means "mass produced."

Of course, some people might use "Big _____" in a useful way, but it's definitely like a code smell but for English.

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#79

Post by javert »

sowhatquestion wrote: post #67
ynniv wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that the interest comes from the radical branding. "Ensure" is associated with hospitals and the aging population, whereas "Soylent" is historically associated with dystopia and recently with some ambitious kids. One exit would be to create an energy drink-like (young target market) product that's just a re-branded Ensure. But if you're currently using Ensure, perhaps you know of other ways to improve on it…

Have you tried Ensure Complete? I got so impatient while waiting for my Soylent order to arrive that I actually did. First of all, it's loaded with sugar, and lacks Soylent's heavy dose of fiber to balance out the glycemic index. Result: sugar rush followed by a nasty crash. Secondly, it lacks some of Soylent's extras like creatine and MCT fats. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it's expensive: it would be almos…

To add to this: I was in the same boat. Tried Nestle Boost because I didn't want to wait for Soylent.

It left me hungry.

Reportedly, Soylent doesn't do that.

I also tried Ensure very briefly, and got the same impression, but I'm only like 98% sure that, like Boost, it will also leave me hungry.

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#80

Post by cjp »

zorpner wrote: post #70
sowhatquestion wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried Ensure Complete? I got so impatient while waiting for my Soylent order to arrive that I actually did. First of all, it's loaded with sugar, and lacks Soylent's heavy dose of fiber to balance out the glycemic index. Result: sugar rush followed by a nasty crash. Secondly, it lacks some of Soylent's extras like creatine and MCT fats. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it's expensive: it would be almos…

> heavy dose of fiber to balance out the glycemic index. Result: sugar rush followed by a nasty crash Good God, man, that is not at all what fiber does, and has nothing to do with the role of fiber in diet. Please stop consuming this before you hurt yourself, and please stop talking about it before you hurt others.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11858448

Wouldn't want to actually stfw or anything.

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