It may yet not be there for most (not necessarily because of inherent nutrient-biology issues but because of lack of long term testing) but it will be a damn good alternative for a few hundred million across the world:
http://southasia.oneworld.net/news/food-shortage-forcing-chi...
Do you really think this is some revolutionary, new idea? Do you?! Do you think of all the thousands of students who go to University for 4-7 years to learn about one subject - Food - haven't thought "hey? why don't we just mix the basic chemicals together and solve the world's food crisis?".
This is pure hubris! This idea has been pursued for decades by people who have dedicated themselves to scientific rigour.
I'll say it again. The founders of Soylent have Engineer's Disease. They think because they're engineers they're experts in food science. That's delusional.
>Do you think of all the thousands of students who go to University for 4-7 years to learn about one subject - Food - haven't thought "hey? why don't we just mix the basic chemicals together and solve the world's food crisis?".
Surely you are intelligent enough to realize that this is not a serious attempt at fixing anybody's "food crisis", and rather it's a convenience product aimed at affluent Westerners? I mean, disregarding that $65/week is higher than the average income in many parts of the world -- and far more than roughly 50% of the world's population can afford -- they're marketing this through the Internet! It costs nearly as much as my grocery bill, and I'm white and live in America!
This isn't in the category of "feed the world" products, which is why academia has had and will continue to have little interest in something like this. In fact, many people have through the years done similar things in a more ad-hoc fashion: a cousin of mine ate a diet consisting almost entirely of yogurt when he had no cooking equipment beyond a yogurt maker, and there's a rather infamous tale of some dude who lived entirely on raw beef:
He's still doing it, by the way. It seems to work.
And yet it would take a doctorate in insanity to think that any of these propositions could "feed the world", when we have trouble distributing enough simple dry rice to meet everyone's basic calorie requirements.
As long as Soylent makes up less than 75% of your diet, and you still eat some vegetables, I'd give you a roughly 100% chance of being just fine. Even if you really go whole hog on the stuff, it probably won't be that bad -- people have eaten worse diets. Much worse.
For me, the central discovery here is not that a monotone food product is possible -- that's easy, just take some reasonably healthy foods and stick them in a blender -- but that people actually like to live this way. If you'd asked me before this all began, I'd have bet they'd all get bored in a month.
nope not revolutionary or new at all. Just that they are actually going through with it. With the free marketing they are getting, they have a shot at making mixing-chemicals-into-food a profitable business! And unless they are profitable, they can't afford to be charitable.
milesf|12 years ago
This is pure hubris! This idea has been pursued for decades by people who have dedicated themselves to scientific rigour.
I'll say it again. The founders of Soylent have Engineer's Disease. They think because they're engineers they're experts in food science. That's delusional.
scythe|12 years ago
Surely you are intelligent enough to realize that this is not a serious attempt at fixing anybody's "food crisis", and rather it's a convenience product aimed at affluent Westerners? I mean, disregarding that $65/week is higher than the average income in many parts of the world -- and far more than roughly 50% of the world's population can afford -- they're marketing this through the Internet! It costs nearly as much as my grocery bill, and I'm white and live in America!
This isn't in the category of "feed the world" products, which is why academia has had and will continue to have little interest in something like this. In fact, many people have through the years done similar things in a more ad-hoc fashion: a cousin of mine ate a diet consisting almost entirely of yogurt when he had no cooking equipment beyond a yogurt maker, and there's a rather infamous tale of some dude who lived entirely on raw beef:
http://www.rawpaleodiet.com/testimonials/lex-rooker-usa/
He's still doing it, by the way. It seems to work.
And yet it would take a doctorate in insanity to think that any of these propositions could "feed the world", when we have trouble distributing enough simple dry rice to meet everyone's basic calorie requirements.
As long as Soylent makes up less than 75% of your diet, and you still eat some vegetables, I'd give you a roughly 100% chance of being just fine. Even if you really go whole hog on the stuff, it probably won't be that bad -- people have eaten worse diets. Much worse.
For me, the central discovery here is not that a monotone food product is possible -- that's easy, just take some reasonably healthy foods and stick them in a blender -- but that people actually like to live this way. If you'd asked me before this all began, I'd have bet they'd all get bored in a month.
vagarwa|12 years ago