4 ms·

A company that produces food that is more appetizing and less filling than its competitors will sell more of it and beat them in terms of revenue and profit. Th

by pygy_ 8y ago

A company that produces food that is more appetizing and less filling than its competitors will sell more of it and beat them in terms of revenue and profit. They either have to align themselves or die/be assimilated. Even without any ill intent, growth seeking in the food industry would have lead to an obesity epidemics. https://soundcloud.com/user-876103472/grow https://soundcloud.com/user-876103472/grow

glastra 8y ago
I find "appetising" and "less filling" are understatements. When I think of the food industry, I tend to think more in terms of "behaviour reinforcement" and "psycho- and physiological addiction".
- pygy_ 8y ago
  That's where "ill intent" kicks in.
- agumonkey 8y ago
  I'd even say 'brain damage'. Processed food industry seriously limits what you will taste. Most natural fruits/vegetables have so much variety and subtlety in flavour.. they also often come with built-in satiety triggers. You rarely consume as much salad/carrots than pringles/cookies. Modern life is pretty toxic in the end.
  - pygy_ 8y ago
    I wouldn't go as far as damage, because it is reversible. If you stay away from saturated stimuli you relearn to taste subtler nuances. Capsaicin, and similar substances (TRPV1 agonists) which are found in hot peppers and ginger do kill nociceptive neurons, but that's AFAIK the only case where some food directly damages your nervous system. I think food addiction is mostly reversible (it may be easier to relapse than to become addicted in the first place).
    - agumonkey 8y ago
      Yeah I hyperboled on purpose. It's mind boggling how industrial societies are "deceiving people".
stdbrouw 8y ago
If I eat a snickers bar and afterwards I'm still hungry, I'm not necessarily going to eat another snickers bar. If I eat a very flavorful salad but perhaps am not feeling quite satiated, next time I'm not necessarily going to order the competitor's product that is drenched in olive oil. I'm sure there is some truth to these sorts of "survival of the fittest" arguments, but you can only simplify how people reason about food or how they consciously or subconsciously decide what to eat so much before it becomes a parody of itself.
- pygy_ 8y ago
  So you agree with me, but still want to ridicule my argument ("parody of itself")? I'm also quite surprised to see a statistician use anecdata as arguments. Humans are predictably irrational, there are mountains of scientific evidence on the topic [0, 1]. The industry plays us like fiddles to get us to consume ever more. There are more parameters than the ones I described above (socialization and long term hormonal effects come to mind), but the growth of the food industry is the main driver behind the obesity epidemics. All that food has to be bought, otherwise there's no growth, and investors are not happy and they put their money elsewhere. The easiest way to convince people to buy food is to make them want to eat it. Modern food has been engineered and optimized to be deceptive and take advantage of our instinctive and cognitive biases, in order to get us to eat more than we need to be healthy. 0. https://web.mit.edu/ariely/www/MIT/ https://web.mit.edu/ariely/www/MIT/ 1. https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cialdini/dp/006124189X https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Rober...
  - DanielleMolloy 8y ago
    For all these market forces that are making profits off addictions it is interesting to see how they manage to get away with it in public perception by addressing personal responsibility - while their products are engineered to induce addictions and diminish will power. I found this study about the tobacco industry's use of the personal responsibility rhetoric: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318333/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318333/ Coca Cola and Nutella seem to do a lot of advertising through sports. They are like parasites living off the idea of rationality and personal responsibility that humans need to live a successful, self-determined life. I'm not claiming that personal responsibility is no factor here, but it would be just as wrong (and pretty bad for the affected people's mental health) to assume it is the only one.
dfgert 8y ago
Too much focus on growth is a quality that always leads to once doom whether its a person or a corporation. Its sad that our business economics favors this.
- pygy_ 8y ago
  The top earners are addicted to easy return on investment and can't envision a world where they can't rely on growth to deepen their pockets. Given their already tremendous wealth, they are powerful enough to brainwash the rest of us into helping them (hence the song above).

by pygy_ 8y ago

glastra 8y ago

I find "appetising" and "less filling" are understatements. When I think of the food industry, I tend to think more in terms of "behaviour reinforcement" and "psycho- and physiological addiction".

pygy_ 8y ago
That's where "ill intent" kicks in.
agumonkey 8y ago
I'd even say 'brain damage'. Processed food industry seriously limits what you will taste. Most natural fruits/vegetables have so much variety and subtlety in flavour.. they also often come with built-in satiety triggers. You rarely consume as much salad/carrots than pringles/cookies. Modern life is pretty toxic in the end.
- pygy_ 8y ago
  I wouldn't go as far as damage, because it is reversible. If you stay away from saturated stimuli you relearn to taste subtler nuances. Capsaicin, and similar substances (TRPV1 agonists) which are found in hot peppers and ginger do kill nociceptive neurons, but that's AFAIK the only case where some food directly damages your nervous system. I think food addiction is mostly reversible (it may be easier to relapse than to become addicted in the first place).
  - agumonkey 8y ago
    Yeah I hyperboled on purpose. It's mind boggling how industrial societies are "deceiving people".

stdbrouw 8y ago

If I eat a snickers bar and afterwards I'm still hungry, I'm not necessarily going to eat another snickers bar. If I eat a very flavorful salad but perhaps am not feeling quite satiated, next time I'm not necessarily going to order the competitor's product that is drenched in olive oil. I'm sure there is some truth to these sorts of "survival of the fittest" arguments, but you can only simplify how people reason about food or how they consciously or subconsciously decide what to eat so much before it becomes a parody of itself.

pygy_ 8y ago
So you agree with me, but still want to ridicule my argument ("parody of itself")? I'm also quite surprised to see a statistician use anecdata as arguments. Humans are predictably irrational, there are mountains of scientific evidence on the topic [0, 1]. The industry plays us like fiddles to get us to consume ever more. There are more parameters than the ones I described above (socialization and long term hormonal effects come to mind), but the growth of the food industry is the main driver behind the obesity epidemics. All that food has to be bought, otherwise there's no growth, and investors are not happy and they put their money elsewhere. The easiest way to convince people to buy food is to make them want to eat it. Modern food has been engineered and optimized to be deceptive and take advantage of our instinctive and cognitive biases, in order to get us to eat more than we need to be healthy. 0. https://web.mit.edu/ariely/www/MIT/ https://web.mit.edu/ariely/www/MIT/ 1. https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cialdini/dp/006124189X https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Rober...
- DanielleMolloy 8y ago
  For all these market forces that are making profits off addictions it is interesting to see how they manage to get away with it in public perception by addressing personal responsibility - while their products are engineered to induce addictions and diminish will power. I found this study about the tobacco industry's use of the personal responsibility rhetoric: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318333/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318333/ Coca Cola and Nutella seem to do a lot of advertising through sports. They are like parasites living off the idea of rationality and personal responsibility that humans need to live a successful, self-determined life. I'm not claiming that personal responsibility is no factor here, but it would be just as wrong (and pretty bad for the affected people's mental health) to assume it is the only one.

dfgert 8y ago

Too much focus on growth is a quality that always leads to once doom whether its a person or a corporation. Its sad that our business economics favors this.

pygy_ 8y ago
The top earners are addicted to easy return on investment and can't envision a world where they can't rely on growth to deepen their pockets. Given their already tremendous wealth, they are powerful enough to brainwash the rest of us into helping them (hence the song above).