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Now Shipping Soylent 2.0

discourse.soylent.me

81–90 of 134 posts

Re: Now Shipping Soylent 2.0

#81

At this point, I'm not sure how bottled Soylent can distinguish itself from other bottled dietary replacements like Ensure, aside from the name.

Ensure is not a proper meal replacement.

Yes it is. This information is easy to find in a simple web search.

http://abbottnutrition.com/brands/abbott-brands

http://abbottnutrition.com/brands/ensure

> The Ensure family of products provides active adults with a source of nutrition that can help them focus on specific nutritional goals. Such goals include helping to rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time, supporting digestive tract health and the immune system, and helping build strong bones. Ensure is available in a variety of uniquely formulated, ready-to-drink, shakes in popular flavors, as well as in pudding and powder forms. Intended for oral consumption, Ensure is ideal for supplemental use with or between meals and for interim sole-source feeding in convenient, ready-to-drink, bottles.

Re: Now Shipping Soylent 2.0

#82

Please stop this culture of insanity, it is destructive. I get it, Soylent is targeting the "100X engineer" crowd who are supposed to be unflappably dedicated near-godlike ubermenschen. I get that people need to telegraph "how busy" they are by constantly talking about it to everyone with ears. I understand that people need to communicate high-value to each other, and do this by referencing how much responsibility th…

You are not accurately describing the complexity of cooking for oneself. This is common amongst people who cook for themselves: you have forgotten just how much skill you bring to bear throughout the week.

The first step is not, as you describe, taking a few minutes to prepare food. The first step is buying the raw ingredients. No one will really tell you how to do this. Good home cooks have dozens of menu plans in their head and do quite a complex set of optimization problems to quickly build shopping lists 1-7 times per week. There are some books that will teach you how to do it, but it's not quick. Especially if you are starting from zero.

There's also cookware, and if you leave your home you have to transport the food to where you are going or prepare it ahead of time.

I think your core assertion—we have the time—is correct. If you have infinite knowledge, you can feed yourself with as little as a few hours work per week.

The problem is most people don't have the food knowledge you have. And your glib insults won't change the fact that no one will really help them build that knowledge up to the level it needs to be. If you are willing to pay a premium for fairly low quality food you can use something like Blue Apron. Or you can make a hobby out of learning to cook. But other than that, who is going to help you get there?

So unless you can point at someone who will hold peoples' hands while they get to the place you're describing, maybe leave Soylent alone for solving a problem your admonishments don't really help solve.

Re: Now Shipping Soylent 2.0

#83
post #18

This video is super bizarre. While assembly lines are impressive works of engineering in and of themselves, I don't know how this engenders excitement about the product. It looks super artificial and not like food. I know that's the point that it's "fuel" but it would be nice to see the ingredients that turn into that white liquid. Maybe we don't want to see those...

Jumped on here to say this as well, this does not make Soylent look appetizing or make me want to buy it. It does the exact opposite. It makes the product look bland, generic, manufactured and unappealing.

They needed this video to overcome the beta testing video of people scooping powders out of various cardboard and plastic buckets from the floor.

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/soylent-how-i-stopped-eatin...

Re: Now Shipping Soylent 2.0

#84
post #5

It seems like such a waste of plastic and cardboard. Makes me think of Keurig k-cups and how it's been deemed an environmental mess. I'm sure the Soylent bottles are recyclable but it's still a waste to be shipping all that weight around (including the water). I hope they make a vending machine that mixes it on the spot.

Do you have the same criticism for all bottled drinks? For instance if you were buying juice would you get a regular carton or a concentrate? (not exactly the same - not adding water vs removing it) I think your point is a valid one; this just wouldn't be the first place I would apply it. There are countless examples of wasteful products. Excessive packaging alone generates so much garbage.

I do think they are wasteful, but it doesn't bother me as much because the consumption pattern is different. I'll have maybe 3 bottled drinks per month.

On the other hand, Soylent 2.0 means I'd consume about 6 bottles per day (2400 calories). That's 2,190 bottles per year.

Re: Now Shipping Soylent 2.0

#85
post #77

Please stop this culture of insanity, it is destructive. I get it, Soylent is targeting the "100X engineer" crowd who are supposed to be unflappably dedicated near-godlike ubermenschen. I get that people need to telegraph "how busy" they are by constantly talking about it to everyone with ears. I understand that people need to communicate high-value to each other, and do this by referencing how much responsibility th…

You don't need to be eating nutrient paste to convince me that you are important at your job and also good at it Why at all convince others that we are busy? What is the point of all this?

It's late capitalism, man. Lots of office conversations are covert attempts to avoid being laid off or similar.

Re: Now Shipping Soylent 2.0

#86

Please stop this culture of insanity, it is destructive. I get it, Soylent is targeting the "100X engineer" crowd who are supposed to be unflappably dedicated near-godlike ubermenschen. I get that people need to telegraph "how busy" they are by constantly talking about it to everyone with ears. I understand that people need to communicate high-value to each other, and do this by referencing how much responsibility th…

I think it's fascinating how hostile some people can get towards Soylent. It's like they think the mere existence of it is an attack to the core of their identity. I wonder if it's just insecurity triggered by people liking something that they don't like or some other type of psychological defense mechanism.

For me, it's hostility toward the race to the bottom and accompanying dehumanization that Soylent is nodding to.

I really don't understand people who think positively about Soylent. It's bland nutrient paste, similar to the kind fed to coma patients. How exciting and DISRUPTIVE!!!

Re: Now Shipping Soylent 2.0

#88
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have the same criticism for all bottled drinks? For instance if you were buying juice would you get a regular carton or a concentrate? (not exactly the same - not adding water vs removing it) I think your point is a valid one; this just wouldn't be the first place I would apply it. There are countless examples of wasteful products. Excessive packaging alone generates so much garbage.

I do think they are wasteful, but it doesn't bother me as much because the consumption pattern is different. I'll have maybe 3 bottled drinks per month. On the other hand, Soylent 2.0 means I'd consume about 6 bottles per day (2400 calories). That's 2,190 bottles per year.

What are you eating instead of Soylent that is packaging free?

Re: Now Shipping Soylent 2.0

#89

Please stop this culture of insanity, it is destructive. I get it, Soylent is targeting the "100X engineer" crowd who are supposed to be unflappably dedicated near-godlike ubermenschen. I get that people need to telegraph "how busy" they are by constantly talking about it to everyone with ears. I understand that people need to communicate high-value to each other, and do this by referencing how much responsibility th…

Everyone seems to think Soylent frees up time for work. That's certainly true for some people, but for me it frees up time to rest. Instead of driving to Chipotle/KFC/In-n-Out I drink Soylent at my desk before lunch break. Then at lunch, I either take a nap at my desk or walk outside. As for morale, I'm sorry but cycling through the same 5 nearby chain restaurants lost all pleasurable appeal years ago for me.

Re: Now Shipping Soylent 2.0

#90

Please stop this culture of insanity, it is destructive. I get it, Soylent is targeting the "100X engineer" crowd who are supposed to be unflappably dedicated near-godlike ubermenschen. I get that people need to telegraph "how busy" they are by constantly talking about it to everyone with ears. I understand that people need to communicate high-value to each other, and do this by referencing how much responsibility th…

You are not accurately describing the complexity of cooking for oneself. This is common amongst people who cook for themselves: you have forgotten just how much skill you bring to bear throughout the week. The first step is not, as you describe, taking a few minutes to prepare food. The first step is buying the raw ingredients. No one will really tell you how to do this. Good home cooks have dozens of menu plans in t…

Here is a 30 minute plan to feeding yourself for a long time without any real effort:

0. Have transportation (or a nearby store), the ability to boil water, and a large vessel to put water and food into. You may also want a sheltered place to cook/consume the food, though this is not required.

1. Go to the nearest food store. Anything larger than a kiosk will do.

2. Buy bags of rice. Any kind will do.

3. Buy bags of beans. Any kind will do.

3a. Buy lentils or chicken if you want more variety. Any kinds will do.

3b. Buy salt or spices if you like the flavor of salt or spices. Any kind will do.

4. Go home, making sure to take the items you have purchased with you.

4a. Rice and beans are stable at room temperature for a very long time. Do not let them be consumed by pests, however.

5. Throw a few days of consumption worth of those items you purchased into a pot of boiling water. Don't try to boil the bags themselves unless you are really desperate.

6. Boil for a while. 25 minutes will probably do. You can do other stuff during this 25 minutes. You can remove the water afterward if you desire.

6a. This meal is stable at room temperature (23C) for a couple of days time. You will need to find a way of cooling the food to 4C if you wish to keep it longer-- up to 7 days maximum.

7. Now you have a flavorless though quite filling and nutritious meal. It's probably cheaper, more nutritious, and more flavorful than Soylent. You can survive on this for a long, long time.

7a. Don't forget to actually eat the food you have prepared. A utensil such as a fork or spoon may be useful, though not required. Additionally, a smaller secondary vessel such as a bowl may be useful, though not required.

8. Repeat as hungry; return to step 0 if supplies run out.

Bam, now nobody has a single excuse to eat Soylent.

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