Big Tobacco’s Legacy: Pushing Hyperpalatable Foods in America
This article kind of highlights what I despise about the modern economy and technology: tech used to be about <i>solving hard problems</i> that made human life better. I&#x27;m extremely grateful for my refrigerator so I can have fresh food on demand, my dishwasher, washing machine and dryer to save me from some drudgery, etc.<p>But I feel like the vast majority of consumer tech these days falls in one of two camps:<p>1. It&#x27;s there simply to <i>addict</i> us. Tobacco companies saw they had a gold mine with nicotine, and realized they could make food similarly addictive (and ultimately lethal in the long term). But it&#x27;s not just tobacco companies: social media, &quot;fast fashion&quot;, many types of entertainment, etc., don&#x27;t do us really any good beyond a quick dopamine fix and are ultimately harmful to us.<p>2. It exists simply to deal with the complexity of systems we&#x27;ve set up in the first place. I think of all the fin tech and health tech startups that exist because so many of our financial and especially healthcare systems are insanely complex.<p>As someone who was a big techno optimist in the late 90s, I admit it&#x27;s pretty depressing sometimes to think that the work you do is not ultimately helpful.