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Comment by Eire_Banshee | Hacker News Reader

> Andreessen Horowitz has invested in various gadgets and products that early adopters have embraced, including a nutrient-rich drinkable meal for engineers too busy to take a break from coding, called Soylent.

What? Does nobody else think that is... messed up?

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Soylent? I mean, it isn't really for "engineers too busy to take a break from coding". That's just the way the journalist chose to phrase it (and I found it hilarious as a soylent consumer).

Its basically the same idea as the other "liquid meal replacements" out there. Cheaper than a real meal and nutrient rich with little to no preparation.

I have it for lunch often just because I don't want to bother with making/buying lunch.

I assume he means the name... it's basically a reference to Soylent Green and cannibalism. "Soylent" is a portmanteau of "soy" and "lentil", but "Soylent" specifically is most commonly associated with the movie about a similar meal replacement where the secret ingredient was other humans.

Because of that, I literally thought the "Soylent" thing was a joke, I didn't think someone would ACTUALLY try to sell a meal replacement called "Soylent"... it's just... a bit macabre.

To be fair, the name seems to be based on the book Make Room! Make Room!, not the movie (extremely loosely based on the book) Soylent Green. Soylent in the book (also, the forms of soylent other than soylent green in the movie) was not made from people.

On the other hand, the movie probably has more cultural currency than the novel, so its still probably fairly poor branding.

Of course, if you're having Soylent for lunch, you're still buying lunch. You're just not having to go out to buy lunch.

Yeah, it is also cheaper than I can buy lunch by going out or getting delivery.

Indeed, I think the use of such a derogatory description in an article called "be nice" is messed up.

Well, it's not like it's Soylent Green.

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