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Strange, that wasn't my take from Rhinehart's blog post. His lifestyle is certainly... alternative. But I think his choices appear to be driven more by dispassi
by maldeh 10y ago
Strange, that wasn't my take from Rhinehart's blog post. His lifestyle is certainly... alternative. But I think his choices appear to be driven more by dispassionate energy calculations than douchebag judgmentality.
Which isn't to say that I am convinced by half of his "life hacks" as being more energy-efficient - I'm uncertain if he has accounted for a lot of externalities of the stuff he advocates (like costs of trashing / recycling used clothing? Food wastage from frequent restaurant usage? Uber over Tesla?) But what's interesting to me is that even if we assume the worst case, the energy profile of his lifestyle does not appear to be too far off from that of the typical consumer.
In a sense, he's attempting an extreme form of dog-fooding of the ethos of his company - Soylent undergoes constant iteration and refining of its core ingredients to further its objective of being eco-friendly and healthy - some choices don't work out because they are sourced from the same places as the fast food industry, or may trigger hitherto unknown reactions within one's gut microbiome... but that's not a good reason to swear off experimentation altogether (albeit with reasonable safety regulations). And on occasion, his method may lead him to stumble across an objectively good idea.
At any rate, I'd rather cut a man some slack to dream and experiment on new ideas, than dismiss him off-hand as a delusional silicon valley kid.
- microcolonel 10y agoWRT clothing recycling, he says that he donates the clothing to be mass-washed and distributed by clothing banks. He figures that this is lower-impact than throwing it out or washing it himself. I also wouldn't be so quick to imagine that a restaurant will waste more food per meal than you do. Unless you make a specific effort not to waste ingredients, there's a good chance that you're squeamish about some part of a plant that you don't mind eating at a restaurant. Funnily enough, nobody suggested an actual solution in this whole thread: grafiti resistant coatings? high-durability windows? a simple pole foundation? land access sensors? Nope, everyone is predisposed with judgement for what should have been a pretty mundane neighbourhood complaint.
- maldeh 10y agoOn whether I am myself mistaken about the ecological impact of clothing, eating out, etc. I agree - it is hard to compare efficiencies in a complex environment, or to quantify the net environmental impact of any one action, so my assumptions may well be just as flawed, if not more so - even if I am not personally convinced by the validity of Rhinehart's choices, who am I to judge?
- karma_vaccum123 10y agopeople at Goodwill have told me they receive so many clothing donations that they don't know where to put most of them food, decent food, is still a scarcity for the poor