Liao explained in an interview with The Atlantic that he and his colleagues have also “toyed with the idea” of a patch, similar to a nicotine patch, which will make its user sick if he or she tries to eat a juicy burger. He argues that such a patch would be “liberty enhancing.”

“If you crave steak, and that craving prevents you from making a decision you otherwise want to make, in some sense your inability to control yourself is a limit on the will, or a limit on your liberty,” he told The Atlantic. “A meat patch would allow you to truly decide whether you want to have that steak or not, and that could be quite liberty enhancing.”

Another one of Liao’s ideas is shrinking ourselves, which he says will reduce our environmental footprint.“Reducing height by 15cm would mean a reduction in mass of around 25 percent,” he explained, which means that “less” of you has to be transported and fed. He added, “You can fit in airplanes better!”