A simple google search indicates 488 mentions of Soylent on Hacker News, to be precise [1].
[1] https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...
They also crowdfunded millions of dollars worth of orders, another aspect of the tech industry that gets people on Hacker News interested.
Personally, as someone who is very into fitness, I've been looking for something like this that is healthy compared to all the meal replacements in the store (which are not very healthy in big doses for a variety of reasons and aren't neutral-tasting enough to consistently eat). I've enjoyed my Soylent experience a lot despite not loving the ingredient mix 100%.
This shouldn't be a mystery at all, and I'm suspecting it's not really something you "never understood".
For starters, it's a Y Combinator company (host of Hacker News).
Secondly, it was developed by hackers.
Third, it is one of the foremost examples of hacking diet.
Fourth, the HN audience is a key audience of early adopting efficiency seekers.
Finally, people in the community have strong opinions about it both ways.
Never understood? Really?
> Fourth, the HN audience is a key audience of early adopting efficiency seekers.
There is nothing new about Soylent, apart from the unethical crowd-funding[1] and easy access to the public.
Liquid total meal replacements are common and have existed for a log time and are available from Amazon. They don't always push the total replacement aspect because lawyers and I guess because they never expected anyone to want to do so, but people live off existing products and have done so for years.
[1] "puts you in perfect health" and other unethical claims which seem to have been quietly dropped.
That is the main thing that is quite new. And also that extended meal replacement has not typically been marketed to this audience. Both of these are pretty huge, IMO.