Soylent Green is... extra working time ?
The BBC's point of view section is always thought-provoking and this one is no exception. Lots of interesting stuff here.
" Soylent is a drink made by adding oil and water to a specially prepared powder that the manufacturers claim contains all the nutrients the human body needs."
So, not quite the meal-pills of sci-fi, but close.
"Some critics of the product have focused on what they think are its potential health dangers. We don't know enough about the body's processes, these sceptics say, to be sure that the liquid really does contain everything we need."
I don't see why. We know what's in our food, we know what's in this product. BAM - case closed.
"Others have pointed to the loss of pleasure and company that giving up regular food entails. For exponents of what's sometimes called "slow food", meals aren't just a means of fuelling the body. They're occasions when we renew our contact with other human beings while enjoying the taste and variety of local and regional cuisines."
I don't normally buy into the "technology is making us anti-social" rubbish, but in this case I make an exception. I listened in horror recently while certain colleagues proposed that if we went to the cafeteria instead of a local pub for lunch, we'd save time and go home early. No ! That is a specious notion. Taking breaks in the day is an essential part of the work process. Human attention spans are finite; if you don't take breaks, productivity decreases. Not to mention that since we don't have tea breaks here, lunch is pretty much the only time I talk to anyone else.
" Our type of economy can only keep going if it continues to grow, and it grows by inducing us to want to live in the fast lane, always on the look-out for new sensations. But it would be a mistake to think the fast life is somehow being forced on most of us."
Oh, I don't know about that. Sure, outside of work everyone is more or less free to do as they choose. And if people want to stay busy, that's fine. But being in the fast lane inside work is something we have less control over.
"When we give up meals for quick slugs of liquid fuel, we think it's time we're saving. What we're really doing is saving ourselves from too much thought."
Or possibly being pressured into getting ever more work done, on the weird idea that doing lots of work - any work - is somehow virtuous.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30005279
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