4 ms·

It appears as if only one of the founding individuals has a degree in anything remotely pertaining to nutrition (David Renteln, degree in "Human Evolutionary Bi

by cal2 13y ago

It appears as if only one of the founding individuals has a degree in anything remotely pertaining to nutrition (David Renteln, degree in "Human Evolutionary Biology"). Speaking as a biochemist who works in the biotech industry, this looks to be like a gigantic train wreck just waiting to happen. At first glance, I would be convinced these individuals know very little about the science behind their product. They all have a bunch of fancy business acronyms next to their name, yet the majority of this group appears to have little scientific background. Website annoyances: - Why is a benzene ring in the background of their logo? Sure, the benzene moiety is prolific and crucial throughout biological systems, but plain benzene is a toxic carcinogen. - Why is their favicon cyclohexane instead of benzene, if that was why they're going for?

w1ntermute 13y ago
As someone else in biotech, I agree with your sentiment. I would advise the guys behind this to go back to making social networking and photo sharing apps and leave biotech to those who know what they're doing. You can't just say "oops" and apologize when you put someone in the hospital, or worse. It's not like if someone hacks your Instagram account.
- fredsters_s 13y ago
  You are EVERYthing that is wrong with startups. I would advise you to quit criticising the audacity of a team that is trying to change the world for the better. How many startups can legitimately say that?!
  - Guvante 13y ago
    How many startups if they obtained their stated goals on a global scale wouldn't impact the world for the better? Risk vs reward. Very little risk in tech companies, quite a few in biotech.
  - w1ntermute 13y ago
    In your boundless zeal for "innovation," you have completely failed to comprehend what I was saying. Putting someone in the hospital is no laughing matter. You can't just "iterate" and "learn from your mistakes" in biotech. We're talking about life and death here, not some filtered hipster cat photos.
    - tokenizer 13y ago
      Not get caught up in the hate/arguing, but if they're raising money for this, and will be apparently working within the FDA guidelines, wouldn't they have strenuous testing before they release this to market?
      - zipppy 13y ago
        The facility is apparently FDA-approved -- this says nothing about the product itself. edit: I will probably try it myself as a replacement for some meals, so I hate to simply sound like another voice piling on, but it seems pretty clear to me (whether it was intentional or not) that the "FDA-approved" comment is misleading.
      - usefulcat 13y ago
        Depends on exactly what they mean by "produced in an FDA-approved facility with strict regulatory controls ensuring safety". To me, that sounds like it could mean as little as "we're going to produce it in a commercial kitchen".
    - cwilson 13y ago
      We're talking about life and death now? That's quite the extreme you've just jumped to. After reading through the ingredients being used in Soylent none of them seem particularly life threatening (Cached version, site seems to be slammed: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:f487PaTqCaMJ:robrhinehart.com/%3Fp%3D424+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:f487PaT...). I admit they need a warning of some sort on the campaign, and they should probably link to his blog posts about everything that goes into this, but the "life and death" argument is a bit extreme.
pogden 13y ago
I don't have a scientific background but I still manage to do okay choosing my own food at the grocery store. Soylent doesn't have to be the pinnacle of human nutrition, it just has to be better than burritos and ramen and freezer pizza.
- w1ntermute 13y ago
  > I still manage to do okay choosing my own food at the grocery store That's because the FDA regulates food. Read The Jungle[0] if you want to know how things were before the FDA existed. These guys need to understand that biotech is nothing like tech and shut this shit down before they kill someone. There's a good reason why you don't see uneducated teenagers "disrupting" the food and drug industries. This isn't like creating Tumblr. 0: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle
  - vecinu 13y ago
    I completely agree with your sentiment.
  - javert 13y ago
    > Read The Jungle[0] if you want to know how things were before the FDA existed. Yeah, because before 1906, people were constantly dying from bad food. There wasn't any safe food to eat. In the whole world. For all of history. Until the FDA came along to save us in 1906. I mean, it's demonstrably true that people aren't capable of caring for themselves. We need the government for force us to take care of ourselves. P.S. The Jungle is a piece of left-wing propoganda.
    - cmccabe 13y ago
      Wow, the depths of ignorance in this post are truly shocking. Even holocaust deniers or creationists have more of a leg to stand on than you do. Grow up a little, read some history, and learn what people used to put in food back when they could. And in some parts of the world, still do... melamine in baby formula is nothing compared to what used to go on.

by cal2 13y ago

w1ntermute 13y ago

As someone else in biotech, I agree with your sentiment. I would advise the guys behind this to go back to making social networking and photo sharing apps and leave biotech to those who know what they're doing. You can't just say "oops" and apologize when you put someone in the hospital, or worse. It's not like if someone hacks your Instagram account.

fredsters_s 13y ago
You are EVERYthing that is wrong with startups. I would advise you to quit criticising the audacity of a team that is trying to change the world for the better. How many startups can legitimately say that?!
- Guvante 13y ago
  How many startups if they obtained their stated goals on a global scale wouldn't impact the world for the better? Risk vs reward. Very little risk in tech companies, quite a few in biotech.
- w1ntermute 13y ago
  In your boundless zeal for "innovation," you have completely failed to comprehend what I was saying. Putting someone in the hospital is no laughing matter. You can't just "iterate" and "learn from your mistakes" in biotech. We're talking about life and death here, not some filtered hipster cat photos.
  - tokenizer 13y ago
    Not get caught up in the hate/arguing, but if they're raising money for this, and will be apparently working within the FDA guidelines, wouldn't they have strenuous testing before they release this to market?
    - zipppy 13y ago
      The facility is apparently FDA-approved -- this says nothing about the product itself. edit: I will probably try it myself as a replacement for some meals, so I hate to simply sound like another voice piling on, but it seems pretty clear to me (whether it was intentional or not) that the "FDA-approved" comment is misleading.
    - usefulcat 13y ago
      Depends on exactly what they mean by "produced in an FDA-approved facility with strict regulatory controls ensuring safety". To me, that sounds like it could mean as little as "we're going to produce it in a commercial kitchen".
  - cwilson 13y ago
    We're talking about life and death now? That's quite the extreme you've just jumped to. After reading through the ingredients being used in Soylent none of them seem particularly life threatening (Cached version, site seems to be slammed: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:f487PaTqCaMJ:robrhinehart.com/%3Fp%3D424+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:f487PaT...). I admit they need a warning of some sort on the campaign, and they should probably link to his blog posts about everything that goes into this, but the "life and death" argument is a bit extreme.

pogden 13y ago

I don't have a scientific background but I still manage to do okay choosing my own food at the grocery store. Soylent doesn't have to be the pinnacle of human nutrition, it just has to be better than burritos and ramen and freezer pizza.

w1ntermute 13y ago
> I still manage to do okay choosing my own food at the grocery store That's because the FDA regulates food. Read The Jungle[0] if you want to know how things were before the FDA existed. These guys need to understand that biotech is nothing like tech and shut this shit down before they kill someone. There's a good reason why you don't see uneducated teenagers "disrupting" the food and drug industries. This isn't like creating Tumblr. 0: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle
- vecinu 13y ago
  I completely agree with your sentiment.
- javert 13y ago
  > Read The Jungle[0] if you want to know how things were before the FDA existed. Yeah, because before 1906, people were constantly dying from bad food. There wasn't any safe food to eat. In the whole world. For all of history. Until the FDA came along to save us in 1906. I mean, it's demonstrably true that people aren't capable of caring for themselves. We need the government for force us to take care of ourselves. P.S. The Jungle is a piece of left-wing propoganda.
  - cmccabe 13y ago
    Wow, the depths of ignorance in this post are truly shocking. Even holocaust deniers or creationists have more of a leg to stand on than you do. Grow up a little, read some history, and learn what people used to put in food back when they could. And in some parts of the world, still do... melamine in baby formula is nothing compared to what used to go on.