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Arnold Kling
PERMANENT LINK | MARCH 31, 2005

The Anti-Malthusian

Arnold Kling
More Gas for Washington... The Joy of Market-Clearing Wag...

Ray Kurzweil is always fascinating.


We’ll ultimately disconnect the sensual and social pleasures of eating from the biochemical task of keeping an optimum set of nutrients in our bloodstream.

That sounds like a very concise statement of the goal for food research.

For Discussion. Would we become food addicts in such a scenario, or would diminishing marginal utility still operate?

CATEGORIES: Growth: Consequences

COMMENTS (4)
|

COMMENTS (4 to date)
susan moore writes:

If I never got hungry, I'd rarely eat.

There's not much social or sexual pleasure from eating that cannot be gotten more efficiently.

If I had a nutrient-pack attached to my back that would certainly make me less addicted to food. If that pack managed nutrient levels so that I never felt cravings, even more.

Posted March 31, 2005 6:08 PM
rebecca lea writes:

I'm thinking food does provide social and sensual pleasures. Since the disconnect between the biological and sensual aspects of sex occurred (thanks to widely available/somewhat reliable contraception), obesity and fad diets have become an accepted part of our culture. Did the one lead to the other? I don't know. One way to test it would be to install those little food-techie nano-bot thingies in everyone, and see if you get a population of sex addicts??

Posted April 1, 2005 10:03 AM
Lawrance George Lux writes:

Eating can only be enjoyed when One has the time to leisurely chew. I stopped off for lunch today, way behind, and finished off a bowl of Soup in ten minutes. That is not eating! Anything to organize a One-Meal a Day plan would be appreciated, especially not snubbing an old girlfriend who is the Waitress. lgl

Posted April 1, 2005 3:24 PM
Mr. Econotarian writes:

My wife has a gastric problem which keeps her from eating solid food (or even liquid fats or alcohol) without becoming extremely sick.

In a way, she has already reached the position Kurzweil speaks of...just by surviving on Ensure.

Posted April 5, 2005 2:02 PM
Comments for this entry have been closed
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