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The Register puts Soylent to the test
- angersock 13y agoWait. Wait wait wait. Is there a chance, however fleeting, that a chunk of the Register's staff could come down with food poisoning, or be hospitalized for malnutrition? Maybe 2013 isn't so bad after all.
- jaachan 13y agoI can't find anywhere what it's actually made of (not on the campaign page either). And none of the people listed in the company has any training regarding food or medicine. #slightlyworried Other than that, could be awesome. You could just have a cup with you all day and drink some whenever you feel hungry. Question then remains, why isn't it green?
- sp332 13y agoThe ingredients list is over here: http://robrhinehart.com/?p=424 http://robrhinehart.com/?p=424 It's been modified repeatedly since then, but that's what it started as anyway.
- rickyc091 13y agoHere's a list of what soylent is composed of http://robrhinehart.com/?p=424 http://robrhinehart.com/?p=424
- StavrosK 13y agoBecause it's, pretty clearly, Soylent Yellow? That's like asking why Coke isn't Sprite.
- DanBC 13y agoThey do list the ingredients, but not the sources of those ingredients. There are existing alternatives if you want to try liquid feeds but want rigorously tested QAd product from existing reputable manufacturers. Or Soylent, but be aware that it's fun self-experimentation. Here's one of my (grumpy) posts listing alternatives (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5876219 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5876219)
- Anderkent 13y agoIt's hard to say which products of listed companies are supposed to be nutritionally complete (i.e. meal replacement, not supplement). Do you know of any? Browsing through the pages: Complan - explicitly states you should have normal meals in addition to the product ("Avoid missing meals completely − you may not feel hungry but your body still needs nourishment") Medifast - want you to eat at least 1 cooked meal daily Optifast - not available for retail (or at least the webpage claims so) I'm looking for a replacement for the main meal, not breakfasty/lunchy things, which none of these seem to provide. Though perhaps I misunderstand their ads?
- ctdonath 13y agoQuestion then remains, why isn't it green? Because it's not made of people.
- namwen 13y agoI still don't buy into this being a real product. Everything about it is far too generic and uniformed. "It comes in a large unmarked baggy". Really? No. This can't be true.
- DanBC 13y agoThey have branded stainless steel mixing / drinking cups on their pages, and they're working on branding.
- Kurtz79 13y agoRegardless of what anyone can think about the actual product, I find it remarkable how the author managed to get such resonance in the media. It might be the name, it might be that the subject matter generates strong opinions in people, but in terms of generating buzz and getting attention it has been quite a success.
- danielbarla 13y agoPersonally, I'm slightly surprised that it's proving to be so popular. Making and eating awesome food is a great joy in life; why would you try to work around that? Interesting concept, nevertheless.
- mrgoldenbrown 13y agoNot everyone enjoys preparing food (I don't, for example. And the popularity of restaurants and prepared foods indicate to me that I am not alone) and not every meal is a great joy, especially if you want it to be healthy. If I could reduce the time wasted on cooking/eating 2/3 of my meals, and then truly savor the last 1/3, I would be quite happy.
- danielbarla 13y agoI get that, but I'd consider it a fairly rare stance. Perhaps I muddled things up in the comment by including cooking. I happen to enjoy both, but I'd argue that most people enjoy at least the eating part. To try to save time on it sounds like a terrible trade off (unless other people eat for hours on end?).
- Anderkent 13y agoCooking, eating and cleaning up after it take time. If I can prepare a daily meal in 10 minutes, with no washing up, consume it on the go, and it turns out healthier than what I would otherwise eat (I'm no good at healthy cooking)... I don't see the drawback. I suppose I'd still eat recreationally, at least from time to time. And on social occasions, obviously. But saving up even half an hour every day is huge.
- Kilo-byte 13y agoSoylent, the man food :)
- n3rdy 13y agoI completely forgot about the original blog post about this and was thinking "they couldn't possibly mean".. I must need to catch up on sleep.
- DanBC 13y agoI'm interested in shelf life. What's the shelf life of the beta product? And what's the expected shelf life of the released final product, in the correct packaging? Are they going to sell it as a monthly subscription, delivering each week as individually bagged days? Or do they deliver a huge box of the stuff? The World Food Program has a Specialized Nutritious Foods Factsheet, and that lists shelf life as 12 or 24 months. (One product, Wawa Mum, is listed at 6 months.) (http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/communications/wfp255508.pdf http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/co...) I'm still strongly against the way it's being sold at the moment. Other people on HN have said that they enjoyed the idea of Soylent when it was self-experimentation. As Kurtz79 say, they've done a remarkable job of generating media buzz about something that is not new or disruptive or innovative. I'd be interested to see what they could do with a real product.
- venomsnake 13y agoStart the soylent diet. Then take some pill to suppress your libido. Know that now you lost all joy in life, not only half of it.
- bestdayever 13y agoIf eating is half the joy in your life you live a miserable life I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies.
- calinet6 13y agoHogwash. If you have the good grace to eat food that makes up half the joy in your life, then you have a good life indeed. In my experience, good food is everything that joy intends: gardening, growing food from nothing, spending time outdoors, connectedness with the land, creativity, quality process, science, creation, enjoyment, collaboration with others, socialization (especially when combined with good booze of many varieties), nutrition, survival, health, and certainly joy. In fact you could say that eating and everything that goes into it makes up the a good chunk of life, and a good life at that. Certainly a hundred years ago, if you could do everything required simply to eat and eat well, then you had a life better than most. And in fact, you could certainly say the same today. Eating is a luxury, and the choice of what to eat an even greater luxury. You are lucky for it, and you should be damn joyful.
- sp332 13y agoDoing that when you want to, and to the extent that you want to, is enjoyable. But subsistence farming is not. There's a middle ground, you know? It's nice not to be forced to think about your next meal several times every single day. You can relax and focus on a few meals a week that you actually care about instead of being stressed about food all the time.
- calinet6 13y agoTrue, that's a luxury too. There is balance in all pursuits. All I know is that my favorite memories and the most joyful times in my life were camping in Yosemite, where the only concern of the day is where we were hiking to, and what we'd eat when we got there, and when we'd hike back, and what we'd eat for dinner. That's about half of the concern dedicated to the food of the day. And it was joyous. I find that lack of concern for food is generally caused by a lack of joy, or a lack of freedom; and in cyclic turn also results in it.
- raldi 13y agoHow is this different / better than any other shake-based diet powder? Edt: As my wife just put it, "It sounds like guys are too insecure to drink Slim-Fast, so the idea is being re-branded to be more manly. Like the Axe of diet shakes."
- ctdonath 13y agoIt's not a cheap diet-oriented meal replacement (little more than protein, sugar, and vitamin mix) intended to provide satiating filler with minimal meaningful content but still requiring "a sensible meal". It's a serious attempt at providing EVERYTHING a body needs, including hard-to-manage micronutrients.
- raldi 13y agoIn that case, how is it different from the stuff hospitals feed old people with no teeth? For example: http://ensure.com/products/ensure-complete-shakes http://ensure.com/products/ensure-complete-shakes or http://www.amazon.com/Nutrament-Energy-Fitness-Drink-Banana/dp/B000KK2KU8 http://www.amazon.com/Nutrament-Energy-Fitness-Drink-Banana/...
- ctdonath 13y agoEnsure Complete describes itself as "Provides balanced amounts of macronutrients and essential vitamins and minerals." Lacks the micronutrients needed. Strikes me as intended for "we really don't have any other options at this point" and consequential symptoms will be treated as illness. Nutrament describes itself as "This nutritional drink is ideal as a snack, an occasional meal replacement, or a perfect post-workout drink." Note the "occasional"; it's filler augmenting an otherwise sensible natural diet. Soylent is intended as "you can live on this stuff full time", which its creator does. He's suffered some pretty painful & weird symptoms of not getting everything right (like inadequate micronutrient supply causing bizarre cravings), and felt profoundly satiated when he did get it right. Anecdote: I once worked on a portable IV pump intended to "feed" people lacking most of their GI tract, injecting nutritionally complete "meals" directly into the bloodstream. Each "meal" cost about $300.
- sheri 13y agoI think Michael Pollan described it well when he said food in America was undergoing a process of 'nutrification', i.e., breaking it down into its nutrients, and trying to create supplements with those nutrients. The studies in the book, though, say that we haven't yet cracked the code. I.e., taking the equivalent of one apple's nutrients isn't the same as eating an apple. The reasons weren't quite known yet. I read the book a long while back, so my recollection may be spotty.
- ctdonath 13y agoI've been struck by the decades-long change "health food stores" have made from raw bulk fresh/dried produce to endless rows of little white plastic bottles.
- Swizec 13y agoI read that in the case of C vitamin, for instance, the body simply doesn't recognise it as C vitamin when it doesn't come directly from fruit. Just ignores it and passes it onto urine. A nootropicist friend I have suggested that C vitamin only works in combination with Magnesium supplements ... etc. It gets pretty complicated. I'd rather just eat a stupid piece of fruit. It's tasty, efficient, and awesome. Why complicate things with dystopian future pills?
- TeMPOraL 13y agoSame reason as always, when we study nature. If we can understand and reproduce it, we can do better.
- carbocation 13y ago> I read that in the case of C vitamin, for instance, the body simply doesn't recognise it as C vitamin when it doesn't come directly from fruit. Just ignores it and passes it onto urine. If it's getting absorbed but excreted, it sounds like you're taking more than enough. Usually absorption is limited by cofactors. Allusions to fruit being better than isolated Vitamin C should be backed up by evidence.
- rfvtgb123 13y agoThe article fails to mention how much product is in the bag you get (weight) and it's kcal/day ratio. The bag looks really small in the picture... Also, think about how much you will hate the flavor after a while. Anyone who ever bought cherry flavored protein powder by mistake will know what I'm talking about. Have fun forcing the stuff down your throat the 10th or 20th time. I going to eat my steak an laugh at you. That said I would be really interested to use the product on expeditions IF it provides a significant advantage. So - how is this superior to a load of sugar(s), whey protein and a micronutrients supplement?
- riams 13y agoSoylet has done a great job with getting media attention. Thumbs up for that!
- einhverfr 13y agoAs an environmentalist I want to know, how green is it? O.o
- NathanRice 13y agoWow. The marketers have done a good job to get such an insipid product so much attention in diverse media outlets. Meanwhile, there are probably dozens of more substantial products failing because their creators don't know how to sling bullshit. #FailuresOfCapitalism.
- dhgisme 13y agoIs anyone else suspicious about the amount of money that they raised in their first day (around $130k)? The company's crowdfunding site doesn't let you see who contributed to its campaign and that's a lot of money to raise in one day.