From Lee Hutchinson over at Ars Technica comes news about the unofficial foodstuff of SN. No, the one that isn't bacon:
It's been more than a year since Rob Rhinehart's "How I stopped eating food" blog post; in that time, the entrepreneur started a company, hacked his body, engineered and iterated on a food substitute formula, built a distribution infrastructure, and collected millions of dollars. It's all been leading up to today, the day his company's product ships to customers. Soylent has been loosed upon the world.
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Here's Soylent's New Product. It's Food.
Mr. [Rob] Rhinehart first pitched Soylent to the world with a post titled "How I Stopped Eating Food." Now his successor Mr. [Bryan] Crowley says that Soylent's customers — and everyone else — should definitely keep eating food.
Asked if new customers should consider living solely off Soylent, Mr. Crowley said, "We don't recommend it, no. Absolutely. 100 percent. We don't recommend, not because we don't think it's healthy or we don't think it's there. It's a very difficult thing to do and our research tells us that it happens for a very limited amount of time." (Mr. Rhinehart himself moved the company toward gentler "meal replacement" messaging before stepping down in December 2017, when he announced Mr. Crowley as his own replacement.)
Now Soylent has edged closer to something its customers might recognize as food.
There are other reasons to tell a less provocative story. In 2017, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency informed Soylent that its product didn't meet agency requirements for "meal replacement," which halted the company's expansion in that country. In 2016, the first attempt at solid Soylent — the Food Bar — was quickly pulled from circulation after customers reported vomiting and diarrhea.
The company is working hard to ensure its products are not merely safe to eat, but also tasty and enjoyable. "That's the big word that we talked a lot about," Mr. Crowley said. "Before it was all about function. Original Soylent was function, function, function. Now you hear words like enjoyment in our mission."
Stargate SG-1 s04e01.
Previously: Soylent Halts Sale of Bars; Investigation into Illnesses Continues
Soylent Meal Replacement Sales Blocked in Canada
Related: The Other Soylent Finally Ships
Ambronite: Organic Soylent Alternative
In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand
Soylent 2.0 is Coming: Food Replacement Premixed in Bottles
Spore Scare Stops Shipments of Soylent Superfood
Soylent Stops Selling Powder While it Investigates Customer Sickness Complaints
Soylent Has Arrived At Walmart
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday April 26 2014, @01:47AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday April 26 2014, @02:48AM
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:05AM
I wouldn't bet a dime on lawyer acting common-sensical, it's against the very nature of their profession
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Interesting) by GeminiDomino on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:38AM
You're omitting an important part of trademark law: they're domain (not the URL sort of domain) specific. That's why Apple Corp (owner of the Beatle's rights) and Apple Computers didn't have any intersection until the latter entered the music market with iTunes.
You see the domain rule abused/ignored frequently (like the IOC does any time a city gets chosen to host the Olympics), but that's not strictly part of trademark law, just the "golden rule" bleeding through.
"We've been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of our culture"
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:53AM
Sounds right (logical, to be more precise).
However, I still wouldn't bet a dime we are safe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Open4D on Saturday April 26 2014, @10:30AM
FWIW, in my journal I've got notes about the site name vote [soylentnews.org] suggestions, all gathered in one place [soylentnews.org]. I've updated it as a result of this story and the trademark question.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 02 2014, @11:19PM
Moving to Slide 48, 000 people probably died in federal prison for growing marijuana with his girlfriend.My demand to meet japan changing consumer behaviors, and the responsibility as caretakers, more than 50, 000 troops, compared to 17 kidnappings., online casino tournaments [onlinecasi...action.com], [url="http://onlinecasinoaustraliaaction.com/"]onl ine casino tournaments[/url], 509,
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday April 26 2014, @01:49AM
Those guys will be the first one to threaten to sue SoylentNews over the name.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday April 26 2014, @02:32AM
And what good press that will bring them. I can see the headlines now:
Though Soylent is actually a pretty good idea. But it's gotta be tough adapting to that diet, probably at least two straight weeks of screaming shits, with at least a few of those being public and accidental pants-chili(sounds like a fart, but isn't).
I'd drink soylent on the weekdays and save thick, meaty chops of meat on the weekends because it's the slaughter that makes meat tasty. Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mmm, lamb chops from a lamb butchered Halal-style, served extra rare with some mint jelly.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by c0lo on Saturday April 26 2014, @02:53AM
My, my... so, it has come to this... seeing ethanol-fueled' troll-fu faltering and missing the opportunity to be offensive to the max (and use a meme in the process).
Now, how about
(raise your hand if you know why butchering Halal-style is more offensive for some than just butchering)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:09AM
Butchered Halal-style by a North-African Nigger. Those goddamn darkies can do it with just a quick flick of the elbow. And they have good spices, too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:33AM
Why was this modded down? The use of racial slurs was ironic and designed to call negative attention to stereotyping!
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:49AM
I'm invoking Poe's law [wikipedia.org]: on Internet, nobody sees your grin (unless you put it specifically into evidence).
(no, I'm invoking Poe's law against the parent comment, not against the GP).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 26 2014, @11:31AM
Nah. It's the weekend. Ethanol Fueled is being his usual drunk racist redneck self again. Fuck I hate drunks.
(Score: 1) by kobach on Sunday April 27 2014, @06:51AM
Fuck I hate whiny anonymous cowards
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:41AM
If they choose to, which they may not [smh.com.au].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by Reziac on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:40AM
What I noticed was the complete lack of understanding of where those "raw chemicals" come from. Most of those we can use as nutrients need to be grown, one way or another (some minerals are exceptions), and are then purified for various uses. They don't just arrive on their own as "raw chemicals".
And if he really wants to save money, buy feed-grade ingredients. Frex, lysine labeled for use in pig feed is chemically identical to lysine in a bottle at Whole Foods (and more'n likely came from the same refiner), but costs about 1% as much.
Incidentally, he's reinventing the wheel. The purified "just the chemicals" diet has been around for laboratory use for decades.
Me, I'll be joining you for those rare lamb chops. Mmmmm! (I've hever had Halal... how does it change the meat?)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 26 2014, @04:54AM
Funny thing about those chemicals only diets..Eventually it kills the lab animals. Generally speaking it does not matter if their life expectancy is cut by three-quarters as long as the experiments can get done. Nobody knows exactly what is missing, and it isn't very prestigious to go through hundreds of thousands of chemicals to see precisely what chemical mammals like mice, or rats, or pigs, or us need that we are not explicitly aware of.
It is one of the debates for continual testing of organic materials for medicines. It is worth knowing if some random plant that has been used in traditional medicine has any merit. Unfortunately for all of us there isn't much money in testing for obscure compounds with small, but vital effects when we seem to get all we need from food anyway. Maybe the early death of a soylent eater will spur on studies to find the gaps in our knowledge.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday April 27 2014, @01:27AM
Deficiencies can be subtle and can take a long time to manifest. Frex, in dogs, zinc deficiency takes 6 to 7 years, and then your first clue is that their toenails fall off.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1) by fnj on Saturday April 26 2014, @02:54AM
Thorn: It's people! Soylent Green is made out of people!
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:18AM
Press release:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:34AM
I'm ok with this as long as it's hot chicks. I love eating hot chicks.
Fat old dudes, not so much :(
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:42AM
I enjoy cooking. I enjoy eating. This product eliminates both.
I eat healthy, but am fat cuz I drink too much. Doesn't matter how healthy I cook, my alcohol intake means I'm gonna be fat.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by khchung on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:59AM
I can never understand this kind of all-or-nothing thinking.
You cook all 21 meals every week? You never had times when you were simply too busy to eat properly? You don't have to eat Soylent every meal until you deplete your stock.
I love eating out with friends, but there are always a few meals every week that I simply don't have friends around, or I just want to fill by stomach as quick as possible so I can get on with some other thing.
Now, instead of grabbing a sandwich somewhere (which costs just as much as a soylent) or eating something not healthy like a pizza slice, or worse, go hungry and then eat a bigger snack later in the day, I now have the option of something simple, quick, clean AND healthy.
More options, isn't that what Soylentils generally want?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 26 2014, @09:59AM
No. More good options is what I want, that way even if you lack info the odds of making a good decision go up rather than down.
It's a common but stupid belief that more choices is automatically good. More bad choices is bad. More so-so choices is also bad actually if there are good/better choices available.
Does Soylent taste good? Not really. There are plenty of healthy foods that taste good.
(Score: 2) by khchung on Saturday April 26 2014, @12:26PM
It is also common but stupid belief that news things are automatically bad.
You have tried it already? There are plenty of food that I think taste bad, doesn't mean it is bad to have those choices available. Most fast food don't taste good either, but when I am in a rush, "not really good" still have to do. Europeans take the time to have a good lunch, most of the rest of the world don't.
Yeah, there are plenty of healthy foods available, but tell me which one needs no preparation before eating, is hassle-free to eat, contained all the nutrients my body needs, and don't need a fridge to keep in good condition?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 27 2014, @07:20PM
No thanks:o ylent-day-1-embrace-the-chalky-weird-sweetness/ [arstechnica.com]- of-the-future-510293401 [gawker.com]
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/08/ars-does-s
http://gawker.com/we-drank-soylent-the-weird-food
People in less fortunate times/places were/are lucky just to have food to eat.
But I don't call it progress if you have to work so hard that you barely have time to eat.
Maybe fine if you are doing something important that really benefits the world.
(Score: 2) by demonlapin on Saturday April 26 2014, @09:07PM
Once you're used to it, it takes much less time than you might think. And you do plan ahead.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by khchung on Saturday April 26 2014, @03:53AM
Too bad they only deliver within the US currently, would love to try it out when it ships internationally.
(Score: 1) by kaszz on Saturday April 26 2014, @04:05AM
What will the FDA say?
Is there any medical testing to screen for long term damage or deficiencies? the body contains more than >10 million chemical reaction fine tuned during circa 200 000 years. mistakes are easy.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by DIMT on Saturday April 26 2014, @05:00AM
The FDA probably won't bat an eye as long as the ingredients are properly listed and it is made in a sanitary manner. It does not contain anything the supplement industry does not already provide to consumers, albeit not in combined form. Mistakes in nutrition aren't very relevant; a diet of only potato chips and soda won't work well long term, but that does not prevent their sale.
Personally, I am not willing to purchase this concoction at the current price, as I can eat as nutritionally for less money and with more pleasure. It has promise as a long term project, but I'll wait for production to scale up and refinements to be made.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 26 2014, @08:00AM
I read their silly blog which is apparently supposed to be their main source of info as well as the base domain which only seems to be some sort of crowd funding system. Very little info. How can anybody think that a blog is a sensible way to market a product? It's highly temporal and would require the interested party to read every single semi-random outburst posted there. This instead of a well organized informative normal website.
Can't help but think if they can't make something as simple as a website right, how could they ever stand a chance with doing a proper food product...
(Score: 2) by Open4D on Saturday April 26 2014, @10:12AM
Agreed, what they need is some kind of proper Soylent news website, perhaps with HTTPS, IPv6, and written in state-of-the-art Perl ...
:)
(Score: 1) by Dogeball on Saturday April 26 2014, @11:05AM
I enjoyed reading the latest news about Soylent on SoylentNews :)
(Score: 1) by xtronics on Saturday April 26 2014, @10:37PM
In the 1960's Milton Winitz published a number of ground breaking papers on Vivonex and similar formulations. Sadly, what was learned was promptly ignored by the medical community.
In fact, this is when we first learned that fructose containing sugars cause triglycerides to spike - something most MDs still don't know.
Unfortunately, today there is almost no dietary research using synthetic diets on humans. Almost all of the dietary research is confounded epidemiological garbage in nature or grossly flawed rodent studies ((rodents are herbivores) and what they call 'high fat diets' contain no animal fats - only hydrogenated oils and sugar (that's right - these so called 'scientists' call sugar a fat!. ))