Mathew 2

Mathew began unpacking the groceries, which amounted to a week's supply of food. It was a week's worth of proteins, carbs, vitamins, and other essentials, tailored to his body's needs. Or rather, tailored to the recommended intake calculated by the world’s smartest nutrition experts, dietitians, and doctors, all via a supercomputer. He was relieved that the supercomputer still recommended some snacks. Without sweets, life would have been quite dreary. But then again, he wasn’t a food expert—just someone with basic knowledge—so he didn’t know if cookies were a nice touch from the dietary program or a necessary component for some bodily process.

As he put away the groceries, he pondered why schools didn’t teach proper nutrition. Despite eating being an essential daily activity, education focused on math, physics, biology, chemistry, history, and other subjects, useful for work or leisure but not for living a healthy life. Good nutrition could drastically change one's life and health, reducing the need for frequent doctor visits. Why was there so little education on it? But now, it didn’t matter much. Information was available, though its authenticity could sometimes be dubious.

Lost in thought, Mathew prepared meals for the next few days using the ingredients provided by Life. He transferred some items from their white boxes into jars and his own containers, annoyed that he needed his glasses to read the labels. Otherwise, he’d have to open each box to see its contents.

After cooking, he sat down with a portion of food. It looked like a typical meal: rice with chicken and vegetables topped with brown sauce. It tasted familiar but blander, and the sauce had a peculiar aftertaste he couldn’t identify. Perhaps it contained nutrients and minerals his body needed, he thought, trying to comfort himself.

Realizing he should have worn his glasses while eating, he put them on and moved the microcomputer closer. The glasses, equipped with advanced lenses for virtual reality elements, also had high-tech frames filled with sensors that read facial expressions. These sensors required initial calibration: standing in front of a mirror with the glasses on, he had to make various facial expressions—happiness, sadness, laughter, yawning, and grimaces. The frames memorized his facial muscle movements.

While eating, if the food wasn’t tasty, the glasses and microcomputer recorded his negative feedback based on his expressions and recommended different foods or ingredients for next time. Although pinpointing the exact issue with the meal using just the glasses was impossible, users could voluntarily fill out feedback forms. These forms, designed for easy integration with Life’s system, were accessible through one’s Life account, linked to their Services account upon starting membership.