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Seriously: "Soylent"??? Somebody thought that would be a good name to market mystery food sludge?

Just the link title made my WTF-ometer peg when I saw it.

As Bullwinkle used to say: "I think I shall now be sick."

I never saw any official explanation, and in my perception it's a joke reference. Anyways, that surely is a talking point in some related conversations, and I guess they went for it for this very reason.

The name is derived [1] from the science fiction novel that the movie Soylent Green was loosely based on [2].

The book doesn't include the cannibalism aspect of the movie at all. However, one wonders how you could be familiar with the book and wholly ignorant of its much more culturally significant film adaptation. Especially when it makes your product's name totally unappetizing.

[1] https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/201541809-Why-is-i...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_Room!_Make_Room!

If I recall correctly, that book was also used as a loose basis for a Star Trek (the original series) episode: Season 3, Episode 17: The Mark of Gideon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mark_of_Gideon

The name is obviously ironic.

I'm sure it was. But that's still a bit of a risk. Yuck.

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