On Monday, software engineer Rob Rhinehart published an account of his new life without alternating electrical current - which he has undertaken because generating that current "produces 32 per cent of all greenhouse gases, more than any other economic sector." Connection to the power grid isn't all Rhinehart has given up. He also doesn't drive, wash his clothes (or hire anyone else to wash them) or cook anything but coffee and tea. But he still lives in a big city (Los Angeles) and is chief executive officer of a corporation with $21.5 million in venture capital funding.
That corporation is Rosa Labs, the maker of Soylent, a "macronutritious food beverage" designed to free its buyers from the drudgery of shopping, cooking and chewing. In the 2,900-word post on his personal blog, Rhinehart worked in an extended testimonial for Soylent 2.0, a new, improved version of the drink - algae and soy seem to be the two most important ingredients - that will begin shipping in October.
One theory that made the rounds on Monday was that the in-your-face weirdness of Rhinehart's depiction of his lifestyle was a calculated effort to make the post go viral and thus promote Soylent 2.0. If that's the case it certainly worked - there are already lots of intrigued and outraged responses all over social media and regular media, with many more surely to come. And there are passages that do seem calculated to generate a reaction. My personal favourite:
"I have not set foot in a grocery store in years. Nevermore will I bumble through endless confusing aisles like a pack-donkey searching for feed while the smell of rotting flesh fills my nostrils and fluorescent lights sear my eyeballs and sappy love songs torture my ears. Grocery shopping is a multisensory living nightmare."