kalium comments on Is it a good idea to use Soylent once/twice a day? - Less Wrong

5 Post author: adamzerner 08 September 2014 12:00AM

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Comment author: kalium 09 September 2014 02:29:52AM *  -1 points [-]

These people suffer from increased food preparation costs that make $3/meal cheap by comparison.

I don't think it's correct to describe these mental costs in dollar terms. It's more convenient, sure, but that's not the same thing as cheaper. But yeah, now that I think of it cereal is probably $0.50/meal (skip the milk, goes bad too fast) but you don't want that more than once a day, and it's reasonably plausible that it would be hard to get two decently proteiny frozen meals for under $8.50 if grocery store selection is poor in your area.

Comment author: [deleted] 09 September 2014 02:34:23AM 3 points [-]

I don't think it's correct to describe these mental costs in dollar terms.

Labor costs.

Comment author: kalium 09 September 2014 03:10:02AM 1 point [-]

It's not that easy to convert marginal labor into money. Getting a second job is a high transaction cost, and alternatives like online surveys don't pay well. I just don't buy this type of argument except for certain very far from universal situations, e.g. hourly workers who have some leeway to set their own schedules.

Comment author: ChristianKl 09 September 2014 09:14:34PM 2 points [-]

It really depends on your base income. A programmer who makes 100k a year is in a very different situation then a college student.