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Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

blog.soylent.me

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Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#91

Post by jhuckestein »

I find it surprising that so many people here are reluctant to try soylent and afraid to "risk their health" because it is made by "a bunch of 20-something computer scientists".

Do you really think the traditional food industry as it is is looking out for you? Most people I know have terribly unhealthy diets and almost anything that anyone put any thought in will be better for them. I'm not saying Soylent is perfect or doesn't cause any long term ill-effects, I'm just saying that it can't be much worse than a lot of "normal" diets.

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#92

Post by dragonwriter »

westicle wrote: post #76
anologwintermut wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 busine…

> Just because I sell something doesn't make me exempt from the legal consequences of my actions prior.

Actually, yes, selling your stake in the corporation that was the legally-responsible actor does mean that you are no longer at any financial risk for the actions of the corporation prior to you selling it, at least not in the main way that you were prior to selling it (that the consequences imposed on the corporation would reduce the value of your equity stake.)

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#93

Post by zhemao »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #61
zhemao wrote: post #47

Every time I see a Soylent article on HN I hope that it's all just a sick joke that will soon be revealed as an elaborate hoax and forgotten about. Why the hell would anyone in their right mind base their entire diet off of some liquid concoction made up by some random guy who is clearly not a nutritionist? Why don't you guys just learn to eat a healthy and balanced diet?

I'd tend to expect that as this becomes more popular, they'll get some nutritionists on board. That doesn't mean it's completely insane for people to try it before that point. Personally, I don't want to be an early adopter of this (I don't like to mix "bleeding edge" and health), but I'm quite interested. And to answer your last question: the hope is that this is a healthy and balanced diet.

Blegh, maybe eventually, but I doubt it. We can already eat healthy and balanced diets today. No need to wait until they perfect some formula.

I know some people might want to use this just for a quick bite (er, slurp?) when they're in a rush, but the creator's original post indicated that he was consuming soylent for every meal because, for some reason, he found the act of chewing to be somewhat tiresome. Are soylent fans just so busy that they don't have time to eat a good meal each day? If so, you may want to rethink your choices in life. Slow down, take things easier, enjoy life's simple pleasures. Building that game-changing app or chasing VC money can wait until after dinner.

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#94

Post by zhemao »

jhuckestein wrote: post #91

I find it surprising that so many people here are reluctant to try soylent and afraid to "risk their health" because it is made by "a bunch of 20-something computer scientists". Do you really think the traditional food industry as it is is looking out for you? Most people I know have terribly unhealthy diets and almost anything that anyone put any thought in will be better for them. I'm not saying Soylent is perfect…

What do you mean traditional food industry? If you buy natural ingredients and cook them yourself, who are you depending on to look out for you? I'm pretty sure the people afraid of "risking their health" are not the ones who eat processed foods for every meal.

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#95

Post by reedlaw »

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…

At $200 a month I wonder how Soylent would compare to, say, beans and rice. If Soylent wants to market itself as an affordable product, it should be at least comparable to a home-cooked diet that can be had for $100 a month (which should also be able to include fruits, vegetables, and occasional meat [1]).

1. http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/mondays-with-mavis-ho...

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#96

Post by 6d0debc071 »

jafaku wrote: post #33
cuttooth wrote: post #9

A bad idea run by someone who has no clue about what he's doing combined with another bad idea supported by people who have no clue about what they're doing? Sign me up.

How is Bitcoin a bad idea, and how do we not know what we are doing?

If bitcoin circulation is, in practice, much lower than it's generally believed to be -

“We isolated all the large (≥ 50,000 Bitcoins) transactions which were ever recorded in the system, and analyzed how these amounts were accumulated and then spent. We discovered that almost all these large transactions were the descendants of a single large transaction involving 90,000 Bitcoins which took place on November 8th 2010, and that the subgraph of these transactions contains many strange looking chains and fork-merge structures, in which a large balance is either transferred within a few hours through hundreds of temporary intermediate accounts, or split into many small amounts which are sent to different accounts only in order to be recombined shortly afterwards into essentially the same amount in a new account.”

- Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir, Quantitative Analysis of the Full Bitcoin Transaction Graph.

Then the perceived value and the actual value would be off significantly.

So, while I might not phrase it in quite as strong terms as the person you're responding to does, I do find reason to be somewhat cautious about the whole enterprise.

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#97

Post by cjp »

zorpner wrote: post #90
cjp wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11858448 Wouldn't want to actually stfw or anything.

Oh, you're one of the people that believe that a perceived "sugar rush" has something to do with diabetic glycemic excursions? They're entirely different phenomena. Dismissed. But thanks for the irrelevant link!

What is it that you think sowhatquestion means by "sugar rush"? My guess is you think he means hyperactivity.

What is the difference between a diabetic glycemic excursion (what you said) and a postprandial glycemic excursion (what I linked)?

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#98

Post by aryastark »

betterunix wrote: post #88
drewblaisdell wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sure. Let's start with a thought experiment: I have something very rare, which has no practical uses but which is easy to give to others. Will you give me your car for a big pile of it? How does the success/value of gold not completely destroy this line of reasoning? I'm not saying it is destined for success or failure, just that this is not a coherent argument against Bitcoin.

Go buy your lunch with a lump of gold if you need to be reminded that gold is not used as a currency outside of a few highly niche markets.

This line of reasoning is inane, and comes up every time gold or Bitcoin is mentioned.

Gold and Bitcoin are merely stores of value. Just like your paper bills with dead presidents on them. Or stocks or bonds. Which has next to nothing to do with how you pay for something. You can easily barter for an item, or pay with credit cards. Some places still do not accept American Express. Some places don't accept any credit cards. That doesn't take away from the fact that they are convenient. Likewise, I can see that Bitcoin could eventually become very convenient for micropayments, since credit cards charge merchants a fee. AFAIK, Bitcoin transfers are cheap or entirely free, thus making micropayments possible.

Re: Soylent now accepting Bitcoin for preorders

#99

Post by JoshTriplett »

zhemao wrote: post #93
JoshTriplett wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd tend to expect that as this becomes more popular, they'll get some nutritionists on board. That doesn't mean it's completely insane for people to try it before that point. Personally, I don't want to be an early adopter of this (I don't like to mix "bleeding edge" and health), but I'm quite interested. And to answer your last question: the hope is that this is a healthy and balanced diet.

Blegh, maybe eventually, but I doubt it. We can already eat healthy and balanced diets today. No need to wait until they perfect some formula. I know some people might want to use this just for a quick bite (er, slurp?) when they're in a rush, but the creator's original post indicated that he was consuming soylent for every meal because, for some reason, he found the act of chewing to be somewhat tiresome. Are soylen…

Sounds like you're not in the target market, then, because you're attached to the concept of a meal. Don't assume that anyone who is in the target market has something wrong with them and needs to "rethink [their] choices in life".

The issue isn't "so busy", it's "better things to do with that time". Total up the amount of time you spend shopping for food, preparing food, storing food, and eating food. Are you saying you can't think of any better uses for that time?

Also note that making meal consumption optional doesn't prevent you from partaking in it as a social occasion whenever you want.

But in general, the target market for this considers the need to consume food, much like the need to sleep, an annoying biological requirement rather than a feature. Patches welcome.

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