Hacker Read

saltwatercowboy · 2023-08-27 00:45:43

“Useless eater” is a term I suppose I’m disappointed, but not surprised by, at this point.

bee_rider | karma 16765 | avg karma 2.35 · | 2023-01-01 18:58:04

What are useless eaters? You’ve put it in quotes, but I don’t see it elsewhere.

rgrieselhuber | karma 7733 | avg karma 3.92 · | 2023-01-01 18:07:28

A convenient stance, I suppose, when discussing what to do with “useless eaters.”

pmiller2 | karma 10258 | avg karma 2.12 · | 2020-04-16 06:20:06

What are you getting at? You are dangerously close to referring to human beings as “useless eaters.” [0]

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[0]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/useless_eater

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ETH_start | karma 677 | avg karma 0.58 · | 2024-02-20 23:21:33

Sorry I don't follow. Who is a useless eater? Who is advocating weeding them out?

Gibbon1 | karma 7778 | avg karma 1.11 · | 2024-02-21 00:03:33

My usual thought when people complain about useless eaters is useless to who? Sure they don't think my 85 year old dad is important. But if I have to chose between between them and my dad, dad wins.

Another observation is prosocial 'useless eaters' live quiet lives and don't consume much. And a lot of them mostly pull their own weight. More, lot of super dupers seem mostly good at socially engineering a bigger share than they entitled to. If we're talking my special needs brother vs some tech bro working on spyware and adtech the choice for me isn't close as with my dad.

See: Developmentally Disabled Burger King Employee Only Competent Worker

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sombremesa | karma 2045 | avg karma 2.52 · | 2021-11-15 17:09:50

Indeed, no tasty food doesn’t imply no good (e.g. relatively nutritious) food.

stocknoob | karma 970 | avg karma 3.37 · | 2023-03-06 13:19:22

Agreed, it’s like describing an eating meal as “ingesting calories”. It’s an impoverished viewpoint.

yieldcrv | karma 3087 | avg karma 0.64 · | 2023-10-21 15:57:04

I am also amused that this trait is going to die out.

The trait of changing dietary preferences based on flawed understanding of how organisms suffer and which ones.

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erikpukinskis | karma 14490 | avg karma 2.37 · | 2016-08-05 17:50:14+00:00

It's a bit rude to say there is zero appetite for something in reply to a person who just expressed an appetite for it.

dfxm12 | karma 7107 | avg karma 2.66 · | 2019-08-28 14:55:15+00:00

You're just a boring omnivore, like most of us.

hansel_der | karma 512 | avg karma 0.86 · | 2021-10-30 06:45:51

sure they'll require sustenence but i highly doubt that our definition of food will apply

yep_throwaway | karma 14 | avg karma 1.75 · | 2013-03-24 23:14:53+00:00

I'll agree that it's dumb but, unfortunately, it is sometimes necessary if one wants to eat.

vans | karma 33 | avg karma 0.61 · | 2015-06-04 12:43:32

Nice article about an awful product. I don't eat to live: I live to eat.

rewq4321 | karma 774 | avg karma 3.06 · | 2021-12-13 23:45:17

The food/diet component of their existence is really the absolute least of their problems.

kaushikc | karma 144 | avg karma 2.62 · | 2023-02-04 03:24:52

Nobody wants to really take responsibility of humans being able to eat.

beckalennart | karma 1 | avg karma 0.33 · | 2019-07-15 02:00:01+00:00

It’s a convenient intellectual term for us, but if you ask the guy who is starving then he would likely disagree with you.

ihateyouall123 | karma 9 | avg karma 0.12 · | 2023-04-09 07:12:15

You seem like the type of person who just eats food for energy and survival.

bignaj | karma 139 | avg karma 1.64 · | 2014-05-29 01:53:03+00:00

Completely agreed. A lot of commenters on HN are completely missing the social function of eating.

recursive | karma 9788 | avg karma 2.06 · | 2015-04-21 19:21:30+00:00

I guess "significance" is in the eye of the beholder, but skipping a snack seems significant to me.