diff --git a/src/components/AboutPage.vue b/src/components/AboutPage.vue index 8414dff..54f48ed 100644 --- a/src/components/AboutPage.vue +++ b/src/components/AboutPage.vue @@ -55,8 +55,8 @@ p {

About the video

- "Is It Time to Eat, Or Is There No More Time to Eat" is a video essay that complements my research on meal replacements. As opposed to a broader look on the topic, the video essay focuses on the issue of solving problems through the means of techno-solutionism. - It's built in the form of a vlog which responds to and exists in the same space as the sea of reviews, unboxing and tasting videos that exist within the culture of meal replacements. + "Is It Time to Eat, Or Is There No More Time to Eat" is a short desktop film that complements my research on meal replacements. As opposed to a broader look on the topic, the video focuses on the issue of solving problems through the means of techno-solutionism. + It's built in the form of a vlog which responds to and exists in the same space as the body of reviews, unboxing and tasting videos that exist within the culture of meal replacements.

diff --git a/src/components/FutureCard.vue b/src/components/FutureCard.vue index 1a35d4c..af19391 100644 --- a/src/components/FutureCard.vue +++ b/src/components/FutureCard.vue @@ -28,17 +28,17 @@ p { such as, genomics, the quantified self and biohacking. These are also a result of the frustration of not being able to change some aspects of life, such as the need to eat, rest, and the inevitability of death. Within the small circles of the world’s millionaires, these issues are of great interest, with fortunes invested into research and development.

- In the view of Ray Kurzweil, the famous self-proclaimed futurist, the body deserves no respect in its fragility, and all its shortcomings can be conquered through the intelligence of the brain (Transcendent Man, 2009). In the future he predicts, a transhumanist - future, the body as an unique physical entity has no place, when our minds will be able to explore many new worlds and inhabit virtual bodies, while holding vast amounts of universal knowledge.

+ In the view of Ray Kurzweil, the famous self-proclaimed futurist, the body deserves no respect in its fragility, and all its shortcomings can be conquered through the intelligence of the brain (Transcendent Man, 2009). In the future he predicts, a transhumanist + future, the body as an unique physical entity has no place, when our minds will be able to explore many new worlds and inhabit virtual bodies, while holding vast amounts of universal knowledge.

- Relating back to the previous chapter, meal replacements represent an ide- ological universal solution to the problem of the body. In my view, they play the role of a consumer market-friendly product which comes as an in- troduction to bigger and more + Relating back to the previous chapter, meal replacements represent an ideological universal solution to the problem of the body. In my view, they play the role of a consumer market-friendly product which comes as an introduction to bigger and more profitable issues, such as disease and aging. However, like universal knowledge, universal nutrition cannot represent a solution to the needs of the entire planet. The answers currently provided by companies which produce meal replacements are not as sustainable, affordable and appealing as they claim (Huel.com, 2017). Even though companies such as Soylent pride in collaborating with the World Food Program to provide meals for those in need, I believe that corporate solutions are not what the world needs to deal with its most pressing problems, such as climate change, poverty and access to food and water.

In recent years, more and more money and intelligence have been invested in Silicon Valley into studying the human body. The focus is not so much on curing diseases such as cancer and diabetes, but specifically on curing the one ‘disease’ affecting the - upper classes: growing old. The richest of the rich are deeply invested in making themselves live as long as possible. The most likely implication of this plan is that anti-aging technologies will only be available to the elite, and + upper classes: growing old. The richest of the rich are deeply invested in making themselves live as long as possible. The most likely implication of this plan is that anti-aging technologies will only be available to the elite, and will not benefit the rest of the world in any way. Even Bill Gates has recently warned the world that gene editing technology will only contribute to even greater inequality between the rich and the poor (Court, 2019).

@@ -56,9 +56,10 @@ export default { data: function() { return { - post_mom_economy: '', - lot_2046: 'LOT is a subscription-based service which distributes a basic set of clothing, footwear, essential self-care products, accessories, and media content.' + kurzweil: '', + brains: '', + white_men: 'Life extension technology gives us a bleak future: more white men', } }, } diff --git a/src/components/SolutionsCard.vue b/src/components/SolutionsCard.vue index ad7879c..9bfbcbb 100644 --- a/src/components/SolutionsCard.vue +++ b/src/components/SolutionsCard.vue @@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ export default { return { techno_solutionism: '', - lot_2046: 'LOT is a subscription-based service which distributes a basic set of clothing, footwear, essential self-care products, accessories, and media content.', + lot_2046: 'LOT is a subscription-based service which distributes a basic set of clothing, footwear, essential self-care products, accessories, and media content.', solution_timetoeat: '', humans_timetoeat: '', comment: '', diff --git a/src/components/ValueCard.vue b/src/components/ValueCard.vue index cffb120..e39ee07 100644 --- a/src/components/ValueCard.vue +++ b/src/components/ValueCard.vue @@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ p {

Technology startups did not invent meal replacements, nor fortified foods. These products came on the market for various historical reasons, most importantly to deal with nutrient deficiencies. However, companies producing meal replacements frame these - products as ways to disrupt mealtimes. As expressed by Huel’s community manager, “We wanted to strip it back to what the actual purpose of food is to provide nutrition (. . . ) People are very focused on taste now – does it taste good? + products as ways to disrupt mealtimes. As expressed by Huel’s community manager, “We wanted to strip it back to what the actual purpose of food is to provide nutrition (. . .) People are very focused on taste now – does it taste good? That is not the primary purpose of food”(Turk, 2018). Nutritionism and the food industry in general have, for decades, capitalized on people’s fears and confusion related to food. They created the problem, and then promoted a product to allegedly solve it.

@@ -47,14 +47,14 @@ p { target young professionals who can’t find the time, or desire, to prepare and consume a traditional meal throughout the day, a situation many can relate to. By consuming a shake for breakfast and lunch, one does not have to sacrifice time, or nutritional value, in order to be able to keep working. The companies producing these products, largely startups owned by technology entrepreneurs, promote them as solutions to a large variety of problems: lack of time, inconvenience of cooking, food voids, which is all the times one doesn’t have direct access to a meal when hungry, world hunger, climate change, etc.

-

In my research, I followed the development of the brand Soylent, the first one of its kind. The product was developed in Silicon Valley by a couple of computer scientists. They were all young white males with no cooking experience, who - were surviving on frozen fast food, and were frustrated by the quality of their meals and the time it took away from their day (Widdicombe, 2014). Taking the approach of an engineer in a social vacuum, they came to the conclusion that +

In my research, I followed the development of the brand Soylent, the first one of its kind. The product was developed in Silicon Valley by a couple of computer scientists. They were all young white males with no cooking experience, who + were surviving on frozen fast food, and were frustrated by the quality of their meals and the time it took away from their day (Widdicombe, 2014). Taking the approach of an engineer in a social vacuum, they came to the conclusion that traditional nutrition is inefficient. The best way to go about this, according to them, is by reducing food to its most basic elements. This comes across as the ultimate life hack, as it allows them to further release themselves from their bodily needs and exist purely for the purpose of being efficient in their search for profit. In this way, food preparation and consumption necessary on a daily basis is reduced to a minimum, and food is reinterpreted purely as fuel for the body.

After Soylent’s astonishing success, and due to the fact that it didn’t meet international food regulation standards for shipping, many similar products appeared on the international market. Meal replacement brands are often promoted similarly to software - or hardware, rather than food. They have different iterations, such as Soylent 1.0, 1.1, and so on, prominent lot numbers, and improvements are described as “fixing bugs” (Widdicombe, 2014). Fram- ing them as such pushes them further + or hardware, rather than food. They have different iterations, such as Soylent 1.0, 1.1, and so on, prominent lot numbers, and improvements are described as “fixing bugs” (Widdicombe, 2014). Framing them as such pushes them further away from traditional food products, and further abstracts the role of food in our life.

The rise of meal replacements came not from a desire to improve food, but to disrupt the food industry and make the kind of profits a small technology startup can nowadays. The products are a techno-solutionist representation of the Silicon Valley culture, @@ -79,8 +79,11 @@ export default { return { post_mom_economy: '', - lot_2046: 'LOT is a subscription-based service which distributes a basic set of clothing, footwear, essential self-care products, accessories, and media content.', + lot_2046: 'LOT is a subscription-based service which distributes a basic set of clothing, footwear, essential self-care products, accessories, and media content.', purpose_timetoeat: '', + soylent: 'We thought about your food so you wouldn't have to.', + end_of_food: ' For weeks, he and his acolytes emitted clouds of sulfurous gas. “I cleared out a jazz theatre once,” he recalled, nostalgically.', + frozen_food: 'They had been living mostly on ramen, corn dogs, and Costco frozen quesadillas—supplemented by Vitamin C tablets, to stave off scurvy—but the grocery bills were still adding up. Rob Rhinehart, one of the entrepreneurs, began to resent the fact that he had to eat at all.' } },