Soylent Green is an old science fiction movie about a future where food is scarce. Most people don’t have fresh food and instead eat an artificial food called Soylent Green. If you haven’t seen the movie, stop listening now, because I don’t want to spoil it for you. The end of the movie reveals the secret that Soylent Green is actually made from people. That’s right: human beings.
Recently a software engineer named Rob Rhinehart has started producing a drink called Soylent that he believes can safely replace fresh food. It’s not green and, thankfully, it’s not made from people. It’s a drink made from an artificial powder that Rhinehart says contains all the nutrition that humans need to survive without food.
Amazingly, there are many people out there who love the idea of never having to eat real food again. Rhinehart recently put his idea for Soylent on Kickstarter.com, a website where entrepreneurs can raise money for new business ideas. In 30 days, he raised a million dollars from people who wanted to see his idea become a reality.
Just like Rhinehart, many of these people see food as a hassle. You have to think about what you want to eat, go shopping, cook the food and then clean up. Soylent promises a stress free, cheap and convenient way to get the necessary calories and nutrition with the least amount of effort, time and money.
For most people, food is much more than just nutrition and calories and it’s more valuable than time or money. Cooking and eating is cultural and an important part of our social lives. Rhinehart says that food needs to evolve and just because our ancestors ate a certain way, doesn’t mean we should too. What do you think? Could you give up food and replace it with Soylent? Or does eating mean much more to you than just getting the calories and nutrition your body needs?
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