It's just _food_, it's not like any other food product in modern history was ever extensively tested before it was put in the market as a part of our daily diet.
It's not just _food_. It's a bunch of the stuff that this random programmer thought was important, out of the set of things we know of that we get from food, tossed into a blender.
It's none of the things that we get from food that we haven't identified as important, or that this dude didn't think were sufficiently important to include, or anything else along those lines. He's repeatedly had to adjust his formula to account for deficiencies he's discovered in his glop along the way.
Do you honestly think he's done ironing [1] out the kinks in his forumla?
[1] Deliberate phrasing: one of the things he missed was iron. Can you even begin to trust the nutritional knowledge of someone who missed something as basic as iron?
Do you have any idea how many chemical reactions happen when you make and cook food? Have you studied each and every chemical reaction?
PS. I'm not trying to say this is a good idea. But complaining it's bad because it's "chemicals" is ridiculous. Read this thread - there are plenty of well reasoned arguments against it.
Since when do people consult Food Scientists before putting food on the market?
Food Scientists are people who research food that is already on the market.. (or in the best case research food that is about to be put in the market by a high profile food processor with money to spare, but in that case they don't have your best interest in mind, just that you don't die immediately)
Baby formula is actually a great example of hundreds of millions of dollars of R&D being unable to duplicate the health benefits of the real thing (in this case, breast milk).
And Soylent or whatever it evolves into (or alternatives it inspires) will have research and evidence behind it once it goes big. You gotta start somewhere.
Look how much scrutiny Soylent is receiving already. It has the potential to fully or nearly fully replace food. This won't go unnoticed and untested for long.
What the heck are snake oils? I've never heard of that.
So does soylent. You realize people already live entirely off of similar products right? You do understand feeding tubes are a thing right? What do you think goes into them?
