3,001 karma · joined January 23, 2013
One thing that's struck me with the new code is that's its so easy to follow compared to rails. It's like two different extremes on the implicit-explicit spectrum. Yet it's not like I have tons more boilerplate code now, I think I have maybe 10 or 20% more SLOC than before.
I'll probably do this with my other rails apps as well.
Jell-O actually proves this rather than refuting it. It succeeds because it hits that hardwired sweet preference, not because it invented some novel taste dimension. A truly new taste that doesn’t map onto the existing five basics would likely register as “off” rather than delicious. Your brain wouldn’t know what to do with it, nutritionally speaking.
So you’d have to either work within those existing taste channels while creating novel combinations and textures, or somehow condition people to associate genuinely new sensations with safety and reward. The latter is slow going. We’re quite literally built to be suspicious of unfamiliar foods.