Obsolescence of food is complete: Soylent now comes in bottles

Re: Dammit

Agreed, but only for the non soylent food mentioned in the article.

Re: Transporting water?

"I thought part of this great idea was that it was powdered, and the transportation cost would be kept down?"

It was but clearly people too lazy to cook are also too lazy to add water.......

Re: Sad, sad fucks

The more idiots that live on this stuff, the more bacon for everyone else.....

Re: "Unlike crispy bacon, Soylent 2.0 is available on a subscription basis"

What irretrievably ails Greece's economy is actually pork. Lots of it.

Re: "Unlike crispy bacon, Soylent 2.0 is available on a subscription basis"

They could make bacon flavour Soylent? Might give it a punt then.

Re: "soy protein, carbohydrates, and other nutrient-rich ingredients"

@Pascal

It's unclear whether you are talking about biological evolution or social evolution.

In terms of biology, humans have been 'humans' for at least tens of thousands of years and very probably around 200,000 years. It is thought that control of fire was achieved prior to this evolutionary milestone and there is indeed a theory that cooking food resulted in better nutrition which in turn assisted in brain development.

But, biologically, the fact that it was COOKED is not really relevant - simply that better nutrition was available. In that sense, it matters not one whit whether you have consumed that nutrition after lovingly preparing a sumptuous meal or after chugging a bottle of goop; if the nutrition is there then your body doesn't care how it came about.

Fire and cooking was also important socially, however and contributed to that side of our evolution. Specifically, it allowed more time for other pursuits as night was no longer a barrier.

On that measure, however, the far greater development was agriculture, which finally allowed humans to manage their food sources better and to produce surpluses. This in turn allowed people to specialise and enabled trade and so on.

So, when it comes to social evolution, allowing people to satisfy their nutritional needs without having to spend time gathering and producing and preparing it is what is important - you are freeing people from that burden so they can spend their time on other pursuits.

Of course, for many people that just means more time to watch TV or people working themselves to the bone, skipping lunch breaks, and so on but the point is that from an evolutionary standpoint, the important developments are available nutrition and available time, both of which this product satisfies.

But anyway, it's not necessarily logical to say that something that prompted or produced an evolutionary change towards modern humans in the past is necessarily going to be a good thing now or in the future.

Take the climate change that resulted in deforestation and pressed our ape-like ancestors 'come down from the trees' and to slowly adapt to a lifestyle on the plains, including developing a more upright posture, which freed their hands and so allowed for the development of tools.

Does that mean that deforestation is a good thing now?

Re: I thought the reason we evolved..

...was to cook.. bbq... make things tasty and crispy.

That's correct. The magical confluence of men, beer, fire, meat, bread, and sunshine. Unfortunately the ladies don't seem to understand the simplicity of the idea, and I'd just like to make a public appeal to women of planet earth:

A barbecue does not involve salad. Ever. Or coleslaw. Or cous cous. Or vegetables. Or fancy gastro-pub style ten deck gourmet burgers. Or any meat products purchased from a supermarket (with possibly a solitary exception for home made burgers from supermarket bought mince).

And for the gents, a polite reminder: No Budweiser or similar camp drinks.

Re: Sneer at this if you want...

I'm not sneering but... perhaps I'm unusual but I consider myself a geek and have never, ever been afraid to take breaks from being sat in front of a computer when it's time to prepare something delicious. Christmas dinner for example - that takes at least a couple of days to prepare for (not counting the weeks beforehand feeding the pudding that you cooked in november and were soaking the fruit for since june) but it's totally worth it.

Food for me isn't just a source of nutrition, it's also pleasure. So much so that I don't think I can fully comprehend people who eat without pleasure...

Re: Sneer at this if you want...

"but how many geeks on here would find it even more convenient if they could simply plug in a power cord and recharge,"

I tried that once as a child. It really doesn't work.

Re: I thought hospitals already had this...

Most people would but then most people would also prefer to have a leisurely breakfast and long shower in the morning before taking a nice stroll over to work. Unfortunately, the reality for most people is that they have a quick bite, a quick shower and then squeeze into a train/bus or fight the traffic.

I'd like to have the time to cover my face in a warm, damp towel, while my brush softens and my purified rainwater heats up, then work up a nice lather of Mitchell's, get out the Merkur and enjoy a nice, close shave.

But, of course, on a Monday morning I instead rev up the electric and take a few passes to make me respectable - sometimes while simultaneously getting though my toast.

Also, anyone who has had to subsist for any length of time on current meal substitutes, as provided by hospitals, will attest to their unsuitability.