13 ms·

The founder of Soylent clearly believes he's an expert in many, many fields: http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1331 http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1331 BTW, anyone know a

by n72 10y ago

The founder of Soylent clearly believes he's an expert in many, many fields: http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1331 http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1331 BTW, anyone know a good word for this attitude? I wouldn't call it hybris, though it's closely related. It's a mix of arrogance, over confidence, ignorance, plus more and very prevalent in SV.

LouisSayers 10y ago
Seems to work for Donald Trump
ekianjo 10y ago
Maybe thats the kind of attitude that makes founders good at taking risks, while more careful people would rationalize themselves out of trying new things ?
Chrisjay 10y ago
I would call it mania. If I wanted a pejorative, I'd call him euphoric.
- djur 10y ago
  As someone who struggled with bipolar for years, his writing reminds me a lot of the shit I used to write in notebooks when manic. I was always convinced I had figured out a way to live a purer, better life without the bullshit everyone else always managed to slog through. And I never even had to sleep, except on the occasional bench in the middle of the day!
Artoemius 10y ago
This was a fun read, and I found myself agreeing with him on most of the points. I would call his attitude "confidence in his own ability to reason clearly".
arvinjoar 10y ago
It's not a bad attitude though. Experts with authority granted to them in the form of titles have failed us, and keep failing us in so many areas. Ranging from nutrition to psychology, we really shouldn't put their work on a pedestal. Techies are a smart bunch on average and can stomach a lot more complexity than the average joe. It makes sense for them to try to pick up stuff outside of their line of work. Take Elon Musk as the most successful example. Deferring to experts is a poor substitute for thinking for yourself.
- ebbv 10y ago
  Yes I love how Elon doesn't hire rocket engineers and scientists or consult with NASA. Oh wait he does those things.
  - arvinjoar 10y ago
    If you had read my comment a little more charitably, you might have noticed that I never said you shouldn't consult or listen to experts, but simply that you shouldn't assume someone who is not an expert can't figure things out in a field outside their line of work. Experts weren't always so kind to Elon[1] either. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P8UKBAOfGo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P8UKBAOfGo
- kiba 10y ago
  Elon Musk made himself into an expert. I would consider him an authority on rocketry.
  - arvinjoar 10y ago
    Kind of proving my point? :) He did have to go aginst the grain though[1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P8UKBAOfGo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P8UKBAOfGo
    - sn9 10y ago
      He's hardly a typical case. People who get into graduate physics programs at Stanford rarely are. And the amount of information one has to add to a solid undergrad education in physics to do rocketry is relatively minor compared to the amount most dilettantes need to add to become an expert.
- stomato 10y ago
  > Take Elon Musk as the most successful example. Deferring to experts is a poor substitute for thinking for yourself. I'm not sure what you mean. Elon Musk is an extremely purpose-driven, incredibly intelligent person in addition to being successful. From wikipedia: 'He is the founder, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX; co-founder, CEO, and product architect of Tesla Motors; co-founder and chairman of SolarCity; co-chairman of OpenAI; co-founder of Zip2; and founder of X.com which merged with PayPal of Confinity. As of June 2016, he has an estimated net worth of US$11.5 billion, making him the 83rd wealthiest person in the world. Musk has stated that the goals of SolarCity, Tesla Motors, and SpaceX revolve around his vision to change the world and humanity. His goals include reducing global warming through sustainable energy production and consumption, and reducing the "risk of human extinction" by "making life multiplanetary" by setting up a human colony on Mars. In addition to his primary business pursuits, he has also envisioned a high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop, and has proposed a VTOL supersonic jet aircraft with electric fan propulsion, known as the Musk electric jet.' These are not things that just a "successful" person does. He breaks the mold from tech: the mind of Nikola Tesla but with much more business sense.
eriknstr 10y ago
At least he's been eating his own product almost exclusively when at home according to that blog post. This gave me a positive impression at the start of the blog post and I was agreeing with what he said initially, but then it went downhill. I would not want to get rid of my kitchen and I would absolutely never replace my food with Soylent, especially now that I've heard of all the people getting sick from it. Also, Gawker said [1] that nutritionists say that Soylent is not a sufficient replacement for a real diet. I do not agree that shopping for groceries is a nightmare. It might be in the big grocery stores in the US but in my country and city most grocery stores are pretty small, so I just drop by there a couple of times a week, pick up some food, pay for it and then I'm on my way home which is practically next door to the closest store (110 meters apart to be exact). At that point I did not bother to read the rest of the blog post. [1]: http://gizmodo.com/rob-rhineharts-latest-attempt-to-make-you-buy-soylent-i-1721852606 http://gizmodo.com/rob-rhineharts-latest-attempt-to-make-you...
- delecti 10y ago
  That gizmodo article's only "source" of nutritionists is from this article [1] (another article on the same site). That article's only source of nutritionists is someone who just called them up before Soylent was even on the market, and while none of those nutritionists had examined the product. Many cats and dogs will eat the same food source almost exclusively for most of their lives without any ill effect. Obviously Soylent is having problems right now, but outright dismissing the mere possibility of a healthy "people-kibble" by those nutritionists seems rather unscientific. [1] http://io9.gizmodo.com/could-soylent-really-replace-all-of-the-food-in-your-di-510890007 http://io9.gizmodo.com/could-soylent-really-replace-all-of-t...
  - DanBC 10y ago
    > Many cats and dogs will eat the same food source almost exclusively for most of their lives without any ill effect. Where "without any ill effect" includes tooth decay, obesity, and death from kidney damage among others.
    - 10y ago
gm-conspiracy 10y ago
CEO?
welanes 10y ago
> BTW, anyone know a good word for this attitude? Got you, brah - Dilettantism: a person having a superficial interest in an art or field of knowledge without investing the usually required effort. See also: dabbler.
- ant6n 10y ago
  Renaissance dilletant
- uryga 10y ago
  not trying to make a fuss out of it, but i feel like using "brah" - assuming the users gender - is something we should try to avoid. unless you know the poster, in that case disregard this.
  - wosos 10y ago
    Got it brah
  - abm2205 10y ago
    not trying to make a fuss out of it, but i feel like assuming the users use of "brah" is gendered is something we should try to avoid. unless you know the poster, in that case disregard this.
    - uryga 10y ago
      i feel honored that this was the first comment you decided to write on HN. love seeing quality discussion like this, keep em coming!
      - MistahKoala 10y ago
        I can't believe it was flagged!
- mhb 10y ago
  polymyth?
alvarosm 10y ago
yeah I have two good words: mental illness. the guy is nuts
dilemma 10y ago
> Getting rid of my fridge was one of the greatest days of my life.
adrianm 10y ago
This has to be satire. Right? Please be satire. Thanks for sharing this though, I was previously under the impression Soylent was created by someone relatively sane.
- BatFastard 10y ago
  His attitude is at least better informed then many celebrities. And he was a celebrity for a short time.
- wetmore 10y ago
  I assumed it was satire, considering he's written other tongue-in-cheek posts, like http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1005 http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1005.
grapeshot 10y ago
Engineer's Disease.
jly 10y ago
This guy is obviously smart and has some interesting ideas, but unfortunately a lot of them are very disagreeable to most people. I could barely get past his rant against having a kitchen and using retail stores. I have nothing wrong with a meal replacement like soylent (and the many other products that are basically the same thing on the market), but his ideas and his motivation behind it are disturbing. I'm all for optimization but this isn't the kind of world I would want to live in.
TallGuyShort 10y ago
Judging by many of the comments on here that think the problem has been obvious all along, I'd call it Hacker News Syndrome.
- brazzledazzle 10y ago
  Everyone else's job is easier than my job.
lexhaynes 10y ago
He seems to have obsessive compulsive tendencies so severe that he can't eat food (e.g. "Kitchens are dirty") combined with some narcissism...
- colejohnson66 10y ago
  > "Kitchens are dirty" I don't get that logic. Your toilet is probably cleaner than your kitchen or phone. Doesn't mean you'd eat off your toilet. Besides, you can always clean your kitchen.
  - posterboy 10y ago
    Probably? Like over a 50% chance? How did you reach that estimate?
    - colejohnson66 10y ago
      Just a Google search of places dirtier than the toilet
      - posterboy 10y ago
        from the summary to the first hit: >These surfaces have more germs than the average toilet seat, and you've likely ... That's a quantitative "analyses", not qualitative, but "dirtier" implies both. Go drink out of the toilet, if you believe that, I will not.
- CuriouslyC 10y ago
  The irony is that a mildly dirty kitchen is actually good for you - you get exposure to a greater amount of bacterial diversity, which keeps your immune system functioning properly, and gives you an opportunity to pick up some beneficial microbes that can aid in digestion.
relics443 10y ago
I wouldn't call it hybris either :-p
carrja99 10y ago
> The walls are buzzing. I know this because I have a magnet implanted in my hand and whenever I reach near an outlet I can feel them. What in the world...?
- lgas 10y ago
  https://gizmodo.com/5895555/i-have-a-magnet-implant-in-my-finger https://gizmodo.com/5895555/i-have-a-magnet-implant-in-my-fi...
gmarx 10y ago
I kind of like "Hybris" even though I assume it was a typo. How about "deludbertise"?
- yolesaber 10y ago
  In Greek, the "Y" makes an "uu" sound so it's not entirely incorrect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upsilon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upsilon
0-9 10y ago
A hybrid of hubris and chutzpah
mixmastamyk 10y ago
"Fake it 'till you make it."
hatsunearu 10y ago
Dunning-Kruger effect comes to mind.
jayess 10y ago
"I have not set foot in a grocery store in years. Nevermore will I bumble through endless confusing aisles like a pack-donkey searching for feed while the smell of rotting flesh fills my nostrils and fluorescent lights sear my eyeballs and sappy love songs torture my ears. Grocery shopping is a multisensory living nightmare." This kind of writing is insufferable.
- awj 10y ago
  You just have to read it in the voice of a stage actor clearly overdoing it on a dramatic soliloquy. Not sure if you're into comedians, but Paul F. Tompkins does this pretty frequently and well. That said, it's still insufferable, just mildly entertaining as well.
  - kelseydh 10y ago
    This reminds me of the "Rails is Omakase" video ripping on DHH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E99FnoYqoII https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E99FnoYqoII
  - paavokoya 10y ago
    Not everyone wants to read through life like Nathan Lane.
    - webmaven 10y ago
      Or Jon Lovitz. "Acting!"
  - GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
    It doesn't even have decent scansion tho.
- yolesaber 10y ago
  My favorite is when he talks about his enlightened post-kitchen lifestyle. "I think it was a bit presumptuous for the architect to assume I wanted a kitchen with my apartment and make me pay for it. My home is a place of peace. I don’t want to live with red hot heating elements and razor sharp knives. That sounds like a torture chamber." Did this dude just leave the stove on all the time and keep the knives pointed up next to the fridge or something?
dghughes 10y ago
That situation with his house/pod was pretty bizarre too are we sure he isn't slipping mentally? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/27/soylent-ceo-rob-rhinehart-shipping-container-home-la https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/27/soylent-ceo-...
jlarocco 10y ago
> BTW, anyone know a good word for this attitude? Insufferable ;-)
wetmore 10y ago
I think that's satire, in the same style of http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1005 http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1005.
tomcam 10y ago
Pompous
code_sardaukar 10y ago
In my high school they had a lot of words for this attitude, including "faggot", "square", "nerd" and "nerd faggot". As someone who grew up in this environment, I'm very interested in the critiques of people such as myself who allegedly held these attitudes.
MistahKoala 10y ago
If I was feeling snarky, I'd offer 'ultracrepidarian'.

by n72 10y ago

LouisSayers 10y ago

Seems to work for Donald Trump

ekianjo 10y ago

Maybe thats the kind of attitude that makes founders good at taking risks, while more careful people would rationalize themselves out of trying new things ?

Chrisjay 10y ago

I would call it mania. If I wanted a pejorative, I'd call him euphoric.

djur 10y ago
As someone who struggled with bipolar for years, his writing reminds me a lot of the shit I used to write in notebooks when manic. I was always convinced I had figured out a way to live a purer, better life without the bullshit everyone else always managed to slog through. And I never even had to sleep, except on the occasional bench in the middle of the day!

Artoemius 10y ago

This was a fun read, and I found myself agreeing with him on most of the points. I would call his attitude "confidence in his own ability to reason clearly".

arvinjoar 10y ago

It's not a bad attitude though. Experts with authority granted to them in the form of titles have failed us, and keep failing us in so many areas. Ranging from nutrition to psychology, we really shouldn't put their work on a pedestal. Techies are a smart bunch on average and can stomach a lot more complexity than the average joe. It makes sense for them to try to pick up stuff outside of their line of work. Take Elon Musk as the most successful example. Deferring to experts is a poor substitute for thinking for yourself.

ebbv 10y ago
Yes I love how Elon doesn't hire rocket engineers and scientists or consult with NASA. Oh wait he does those things.
- arvinjoar 10y ago
  If you had read my comment a little more charitably, you might have noticed that I never said you shouldn't consult or listen to experts, but simply that you shouldn't assume someone who is not an expert can't figure things out in a field outside their line of work. Experts weren't always so kind to Elon[1] either. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P8UKBAOfGo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P8UKBAOfGo
kiba 10y ago
Elon Musk made himself into an expert. I would consider him an authority on rocketry.
- arvinjoar 10y ago
  Kind of proving my point? :) He did have to go aginst the grain though[1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P8UKBAOfGo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P8UKBAOfGo
  - sn9 10y ago
    He's hardly a typical case. People who get into graduate physics programs at Stanford rarely are. And the amount of information one has to add to a solid undergrad education in physics to do rocketry is relatively minor compared to the amount most dilettantes need to add to become an expert.
stomato 10y ago
> Take Elon Musk as the most successful example. Deferring to experts is a poor substitute for thinking for yourself. I'm not sure what you mean. Elon Musk is an extremely purpose-driven, incredibly intelligent person in addition to being successful. From wikipedia: 'He is the founder, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX; co-founder, CEO, and product architect of Tesla Motors; co-founder and chairman of SolarCity; co-chairman of OpenAI; co-founder of Zip2; and founder of X.com which merged with PayPal of Confinity. As of June 2016, he has an estimated net worth of US$11.5 billion, making him the 83rd wealthiest person in the world. Musk has stated that the goals of SolarCity, Tesla Motors, and SpaceX revolve around his vision to change the world and humanity. His goals include reducing global warming through sustainable energy production and consumption, and reducing the "risk of human extinction" by "making life multiplanetary" by setting up a human colony on Mars. In addition to his primary business pursuits, he has also envisioned a high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop, and has proposed a VTOL supersonic jet aircraft with electric fan propulsion, known as the Musk electric jet.' These are not things that just a "successful" person does. He breaks the mold from tech: the mind of Nikola Tesla but with much more business sense.

eriknstr 10y ago

At least he's been eating his own product almost exclusively when at home according to that blog post. This gave me a positive impression at the start of the blog post and I was agreeing with what he said initially, but then it went downhill. I would not want to get rid of my kitchen and I would absolutely never replace my food with Soylent, especially now that I've heard of all the people getting sick from it. Also, Gawker said [1] that nutritionists say that Soylent is not a sufficient replacement for a real diet. I do not agree that shopping for groceries is a nightmare. It might be in the big grocery stores in the US but in my country and city most grocery stores are pretty small, so I just drop by there a couple of times a week, pick up some food, pay for it and then I'm on my way home which is practically next door to the closest store (110 meters apart to be exact). At that point I did not bother to read the rest of the blog post. [1]: http://gizmodo.com/rob-rhineharts-latest-attempt-to-make-you-buy-soylent-i-1721852606 http://gizmodo.com/rob-rhineharts-latest-attempt-to-make-you...

delecti 10y ago
That gizmodo article's only "source" of nutritionists is from this article [1] (another article on the same site). That article's only source of nutritionists is someone who just called them up before Soylent was even on the market, and while none of those nutritionists had examined the product. Many cats and dogs will eat the same food source almost exclusively for most of their lives without any ill effect. Obviously Soylent is having problems right now, but outright dismissing the mere possibility of a healthy "people-kibble" by those nutritionists seems rather unscientific. [1] http://io9.gizmodo.com/could-soylent-really-replace-all-of-the-food-in-your-di-510890007 http://io9.gizmodo.com/could-soylent-really-replace-all-of-t...
- DanBC 10y ago
  > Many cats and dogs will eat the same food source almost exclusively for most of their lives without any ill effect. Where "without any ill effect" includes tooth decay, obesity, and death from kidney damage among others.
  - 10y ago

gm-conspiracy 10y ago

CEO?

welanes 10y ago

> BTW, anyone know a good word for this attitude? Got you, brah - Dilettantism: a person having a superficial interest in an art or field of knowledge without investing the usually required effort. See also: dabbler.

ant6n 10y ago
Renaissance dilletant
uryga 10y ago
not trying to make a fuss out of it, but i feel like using "brah" - assuming the users gender - is something we should try to avoid. unless you know the poster, in that case disregard this.
- wosos 10y ago
  Got it brah
- abm2205 10y ago
  not trying to make a fuss out of it, but i feel like assuming the users use of "brah" is gendered is something we should try to avoid. unless you know the poster, in that case disregard this.
  - uryga 10y ago
    i feel honored that this was the first comment you decided to write on HN. love seeing quality discussion like this, keep em coming!
    - MistahKoala 10y ago
      I can't believe it was flagged!
mhb 10y ago
polymyth?

alvarosm 10y ago

yeah I have two good words: mental illness. the guy is nuts

dilemma 10y ago

> Getting rid of my fridge was one of the greatest days of my life.

adrianm 10y ago

This has to be satire. Right? Please be satire. Thanks for sharing this though, I was previously under the impression Soylent was created by someone relatively sane.

BatFastard 10y ago
His attitude is at least better informed then many celebrities. And he was a celebrity for a short time.
wetmore 10y ago
I assumed it was satire, considering he's written other tongue-in-cheek posts, like http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1005 http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1005.

grapeshot 10y ago

Engineer's Disease.

jly 10y ago

This guy is obviously smart and has some interesting ideas, but unfortunately a lot of them are very disagreeable to most people. I could barely get past his rant against having a kitchen and using retail stores. I have nothing wrong with a meal replacement like soylent (and the many other products that are basically the same thing on the market), but his ideas and his motivation behind it are disturbing. I'm all for optimization but this isn't the kind of world I would want to live in.

TallGuyShort 10y ago

Judging by many of the comments on here that think the problem has been obvious all along, I'd call it Hacker News Syndrome.

brazzledazzle 10y ago
Everyone else's job is easier than my job.

lexhaynes 10y ago

He seems to have obsessive compulsive tendencies so severe that he can't eat food (e.g. "Kitchens are dirty") combined with some narcissism...

colejohnson66 10y ago
> "Kitchens are dirty" I don't get that logic. Your toilet is probably cleaner than your kitchen or phone. Doesn't mean you'd eat off your toilet. Besides, you can always clean your kitchen.
- posterboy 10y ago
  Probably? Like over a 50% chance? How did you reach that estimate?
  - colejohnson66 10y ago
    Just a Google search of places dirtier than the toilet
    - posterboy 10y ago
      from the summary to the first hit: >These surfaces have more germs than the average toilet seat, and you've likely ... That's a quantitative "analyses", not qualitative, but "dirtier" implies both. Go drink out of the toilet, if you believe that, I will not.
CuriouslyC 10y ago
The irony is that a mildly dirty kitchen is actually good for you - you get exposure to a greater amount of bacterial diversity, which keeps your immune system functioning properly, and gives you an opportunity to pick up some beneficial microbes that can aid in digestion.

relics443 10y ago

I wouldn't call it hybris either :-p

carrja99 10y ago

> The walls are buzzing. I know this because I have a magnet implanted in my hand and whenever I reach near an outlet I can feel them. What in the world...?

lgas 10y ago
https://gizmodo.com/5895555/i-have-a-magnet-implant-in-my-finger https://gizmodo.com/5895555/i-have-a-magnet-implant-in-my-fi...

gmarx 10y ago

I kind of like "Hybris" even though I assume it was a typo. How about "deludbertise"?

yolesaber 10y ago
In Greek, the "Y" makes an "uu" sound so it's not entirely incorrect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upsilon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upsilon

0-9 10y ago

A hybrid of hubris and chutzpah

mixmastamyk 10y ago

"Fake it 'till you make it."

hatsunearu 10y ago

Dunning-Kruger effect comes to mind.

jayess 10y ago

"I have not set foot in a grocery store in years. Nevermore will I bumble through endless confusing aisles like a pack-donkey searching for feed while the smell of rotting flesh fills my nostrils and fluorescent lights sear my eyeballs and sappy love songs torture my ears. Grocery shopping is a multisensory living nightmare." This kind of writing is insufferable.

awj 10y ago
You just have to read it in the voice of a stage actor clearly overdoing it on a dramatic soliloquy. Not sure if you're into comedians, but Paul F. Tompkins does this pretty frequently and well. That said, it's still insufferable, just mildly entertaining as well.
- kelseydh 10y ago
  This reminds me of the "Rails is Omakase" video ripping on DHH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E99FnoYqoII https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E99FnoYqoII
- paavokoya 10y ago
  Not everyone wants to read through life like Nathan Lane.
  - webmaven 10y ago
    Or Jon Lovitz. "Acting!"
- GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
  It doesn't even have decent scansion tho.
yolesaber 10y ago
My favorite is when he talks about his enlightened post-kitchen lifestyle. "I think it was a bit presumptuous for the architect to assume I wanted a kitchen with my apartment and make me pay for it. My home is a place of peace. I don’t want to live with red hot heating elements and razor sharp knives. That sounds like a torture chamber." Did this dude just leave the stove on all the time and keep the knives pointed up next to the fridge or something?

dghughes 10y ago

That situation with his house/pod was pretty bizarre too are we sure he isn't slipping mentally? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/27/soylent-ceo-rob-rhinehart-shipping-container-home-la https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/27/soylent-ceo-...

jlarocco 10y ago

> BTW, anyone know a good word for this attitude? Insufferable ;-)

wetmore 10y ago

I think that's satire, in the same style of http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1005 http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1005.

tomcam 10y ago

Pompous

code_sardaukar 10y ago

In my high school they had a lot of words for this attitude, including "faggot", "square", "nerd" and "nerd faggot". As someone who grew up in this environment, I'm very interested in the critiques of people such as myself who allegedly held these attitudes.

MistahKoala 10y ago

If I was feeling snarky, I'd offer 'ultracrepidarian'.