No more steaks, salads or candy in the future — just virtual reality food

The idea of replacing real food with virtual stimuli is speculation with no scientific basis: no headset feeds you, and no chip in the spinal cord reproduces the pleasure of eating. This is a dystopian fantasy, not a real plan.

## What the message says and what it actually is

The text circulating online imagines a future where food is reduced to a "cup of avegrem broth" and the pleasure of a steak or a calamari sandwich is recovered with a virtual reality headset, like the one Neo and Morpheus use in The Matrix. The reference to Soylent Green, the 1973 film, is no accident: there, food was a mystery hiding something worse. The fantasy is catchy, but it's worth separating fiction from what technology can actually do today.

No virtual reality device feeds you. Headsets stimulate sight and hearing; some prototypes add aromas, but they don't nourish. A chip in the spinal cord, like those being developed by Neuralink, Elon Musk's company, aims to restore motor or sensory functions in patients, not replace digestion. The idea that an implant could reproduce the pleasure of a meal is a hypothesis with no experimental support.

## Alcohol and sens as dispensable luxuries

The message also speculates that alcohol will disappear because hangovers reduce productivity. It's a reasonable prediction in economic terms: alcohol consumption is already falling among young people in several countries, though for cultural and health reasons, not because of a headset. The scene from Demolition Man, with headsets simulating sensual encounters, is cited as a preview of individual virtual intimacy.

There, the text mixes desire and technology without evidence. Haptic stimulation devices exist, but they don't reproduce complex bodily sensations or replace human contact. The reference to the "Ring of Sauron" is a metaphor for control, not a technical fact.

## Price as an argument and the nostalgia trap

The message claims many will accept the headset once they see the prices, even of a pack of donuts. That's the most interesting part: food inflation is real and it hits your wallet. But from there to a flavor simulator being the solution is a huge leap. The nostalgia of a calamari sandwich in the main square with grandpa can't be emulated with a chip.

The fantasy of avegrem broth and the headset is a parable about inequality, not a forecast. There is no evidence that food is going to disappear or that technology will replace the pleasure of eating. If someone tells you otherwise, ask for the source.