
Soylent Update 3/13 - jack-r-abbit
http://blog.soylent.me/post/79480695066/soylent-update-3-13
======
Cthulhu_
> and RFI has ordered several pallets of rice protein via air freight, so the
> manufacturing process can begin earlier and supporters can start receiving
> shipments.

With tricks like that, it's unlikely Soylent will become affordable anytime
soon. But then, experimental food technology, small scale, etc.

I'm still pretty sure that if it does become big enough to be distributed to
grocery stores, it'll find a way somewhere in the diet department, right next
to the diet shakes and whatnot.

~~~
stusmall
That's just how early R&D is when you have a physical product. I can't count
how much crazy crap I've seen rushed from China to make a deadline or meet
early turn outs. Sometimes engineering time and early adopter happiness are
worth a lot more than the one off cost of some air freight. Its not like (at
least I hope not how) that's how their supply chain will be working in the
long term.

------
cwilson
Every time we have a thread about Soylent on HN, without a doubt, it turns
into a debate between people who love the product/concept and people who
absolutely loathe it.

I've always found it interesting that a lot of the most disruptive companies
have this effect at some point, in various degrees. Apple, Uber, Airbnb, and
recently Secret all come to mind.

I'm not saying this is any kind of a predictor for the success of Soylent, but
it's still interesting.

~~~
jack-r-abbit
Soylent threads also get a lot of snarky and rude comments directed _at_ the
people who love the concept. The others you listed (with the exception of
Apple) don't get that so much. I don't think I've ever read an Uber or Airbnb
thread where the people against it were so rude to the people for it.

------
ovi256
Why go with an exotic, new protein source like brown rice when there're others
available in huge quantities and very good quality like whey protein isolate ?

Whey protein may not be 100% for vegans, I guess. But then, it's something so
remote from milk, just as rice isolate is remote from rice.

~~~
bri3d
[http://discourse.soylent.me/t/new-soylent-feedback-
category/...](http://discourse.soylent.me/t/new-soylent-feedback-
category/3670/4)

There's the stated reason.

Personally given threads like that I wouldn't touch this stuff with a ten foot
pole as a complete meal replacement.

~~~
dxbydt
Wow, what a crazy thread! They are going about picking nutrients the way I
would go about picking some web framework. Hey lets pick Rails what dynamic
languages no way ok how about Servlets no way dude no semicolons for me ok
then how about Play dude its like so boilerplatey ok fine how about scalatra
fine scalatra it is. There's no thought that some human is actually going to
put this thing in his mouth, what effects its going to have on his health and
well-being. Nutrition as a Service.

~~~
nitrogen
It doesn't seem so crazy to me. Those aren't the people who created Soylent,
just potential customers explaining what they want from the product.

Were you expecting a magical revelation from the gods of nutrition?

~~~
dxbydt
>Were you expecting a magical revelation from the gods of nutrition?

Unlike subjective ad-hoc-cy garbage like web/js frameworks, nutrition is a
sound science well studied for hundreds of years. We know which people in
which climes eat which food groups in what proportion, how they fare relative
to each other, impact of food groups on your bile/blood/bowels , ... There
are, as you choose to call them, "gods of nutrition", with PhDs and years of
experience studying the damn thing in their labs. To randomly pick brown rice
over whey because "hey I don't want to support industrialized cattle
farmers"...that would be like my toddler picking candy over broccoli because
it just tastes better! This is supposed to be an MRP that real people eat, and
hopefully has no adverse effects on them. Its not some random 8080 server that
serves json whether you code it up with or without semicolons.

------
trevoragilbert
It seems like this continues to push forward and tries to be a real product,
but there are two things wrong with it. 1) outside of a really small group of
people (unless I'm mistaken?), it doesn't seem like there's any demand for it
and 2) it has one of the worst product names I've ever heard of.

~~~
jack-r-abbit
> _it has one of the worst product names I 've ever heard of_

I beg to differ:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_dick](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_dick)

~~~
kbutler
[http://pioneerstories-asay.blogspot.com/2011/01/lumpy-
dick.h...](http://pioneerstories-asay.blogspot.com/2011/01/lumpy-dick.html)

My wife calls it "Pioneer Cereal".

------
jack-r-abbit
I'm sad about yet another delay. I hope they can get this sorted out. I
ordered a little later in the campaign and wasn't expecting my 30 day supply
until late Dec or early Jan. but now we're looking at late April.

~~~
quomopete
guess you'll just have to sustain yourself on real food till then :)

~~~
jack-r-abbit
Oh... I've been just starving while I wait. :) I'm just eager to get it and
try it.

------
pyrrhotech
I would be interested if they could get it down to $5 a day to match what I'm
currently spending on food

~~~
state
Would you mind giving the details on how you got the cost that low?

~~~
scarmig
Can't speak for who you're asking directly, but: lentils, rice, beans, frozen
veggies, corn tortillas. Can make delicious meals with a well-stocked spice
rack (which costs an initial hundred bucks or so upfront, but depreciation
maybe adds at most a couple quarters to each meal).

Fresh veggies are doable too, if you're smart about where you shop and what
you buy.

~~~
desigooner
I'd suggest people to go shopping at your local ethnic store for spices vs.
buying pre-packed spice racks or those tiny spice bottles from whole foods or
your local markets.

You'll get X times quantity for 1/Yth the cost. The same goes for Lentils,
Beans and Rice

------
mmcclure
"This rice protein is the highest mesh size on the market, which results in a
smooth and creamy mouthfeel." This is why I backed Soylent. For the mouthfeel.

mmm.

------
zacinbusiness
I'm unsure that I understand the whole Soylent thing. Is it for lazy people or
is it for people who simply don't enjoy food? I know it's not about solving
some sort of food supply problem, as we've not seen tons if it being
distributed for free to the hungry. And it can't be about eating healthy,
because eating healthy is easy and doesn't require buying chemicals from shady
manufacturers. So what's it all about?

~~~
amckenna
I typically don't eat breakfast because I either don't have time, have run out
of eggs/cereal/milk, or don't feel like eating one of the three typical
breakfast foods. If I could supplement/substitute breakfast it would be really
nice.

Sometimes I eat fast food or some microwaveable thing because I am either
exhausted when I come home, don't have food in the fridge, and I don't want to
prepare anything or go to the super market. If I had a healthy and cheap
alternative to a borrito, burger, or teriyaki chicken that would be awesome.

I'm not going to go 100% on Soylent and I don't think many of the people
buying into it are, it's a meal alternative and another option for those
20-40% of meals that I simply am not going to cook for whatever reason.

~~~
ryana
Just wondering, how often in the past have you purchased some kind of meal
replacement shake to solve the problem?

If never or not often, why will Soylent be different?

~~~
amckenna
I drink protein shakes in the morning about once or twice a week (usually the
morning after a workout). Soylent appeals to me because it seem like a more
"complete" protein shake.

I haven't purchased other meal replacement drinks because I frankly wasn't
aware that they existed until I started following all of this.

------
trekky1700
With all these issues with the protein source, perhaps Soylent is only viable
when it's made out of people...

------
DonGateley
Too bad they aren't interested in assisting the poor. This could have been a
godsend. The market their price targets will likely show little interest. They
like and can afford food.

~~~
sfeng
Every product needs to assist the poor or it's immoral?

~~~
cwe
where did the commenter say it was immoral?

~~~
diminoten
"Could have been a godsend" -> "It's not a godsend" -> "It's not something
from god" -> "It's not good" -> "It's bad" -> "It's immoral"

------
DrJ
It's odd that whenever I see an update from Soylent I already assume that it
is an 'Soylent will be ready next month maybe' email.

I'm hoping to be surprised in April, but then I was also today, last month,
January... etc.

------
volune
With this many delays it would have been more fitting if they had use
Kickstarter.com to raise their money.

------
nsxwolf
I hadn't heard about this in awhile. I had hoped it had gone away.

It's probably the worst product name in history. It's like a gag product you'd
find on Think Geek, like cans of Unicorn Meat.

I want to throw up just thinking about choking down that snot-like material.

~~~
diminoten
How is this the kind of comment you'd expect to leave on HN?

"I hope it goes away, its name sucks, and using it would literally make me
vomit."

Astounding commentary, nsxwolf. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

~~~
nsxwolf
You can look at my comment history and see that I never post comments like
this.

This is an exception because I find this so utterly repulsive and repugnant.

Somewhere deep down in my soul I find this just anti-human, like a bunch of
transhumanist lemmings that can't wait to jump off the whole humanity train so
they're going to start by eliminating food. Next comes truth, followed by
beauty.

~~~
Karunamon
Anti human? You mean like prosthetic limbs? You mean like artifical organs to
replace failed natural ones? Wow, I thought the "humanist" mindset parodied in
the recent deus ex game was a complete invention. Apparently it really exists.

Thanks for the most absurd thing I've read all year this side of 4chan.

~~~
nsxwolf
Prosthetic limbs and organs attempt to replace their natural equivalents. Why
you would think I have a problem with that, I have no idea.

So far I haven't seen amputees opting for tentacles instead of legs, or people
deliberately amputating healthy limbs so they can run faster with blades. That
would gross me out.

~~~
Karunamon
> Why you would think I have a problem with that, I have no idea.

Because you're having this visceral, irrational reaction to what is
essentially a nutritionally-modified Ensure or Slimfast or any other meal
replacement drink that's been around for the past 20 years!

Wait until prosthetics are on equal ground with the real thing - I'd wager
once that time comes, willfully trading the real limb for an artifical one
will become a real thing.

~~~
nsxwolf
I'm sure you're right. All sorts of biomedical horrors are coming our way.

