THE MENTAL FORECAST Liviu Poenaru & Dr Stefania Ubaldi May 2026 A mental forecast for contemporary capitalism begins with a contradiction: the system produces bliss points while also producing permanent frustration. The bliss point, in the context of engineered food, refers to the optimized sensory zone where sugar, salt, fat, texture, aroma, and ease of consumption are calibrated to maximize pleasure and repeat consumption. In this sense, engineered food is not simply food;

THE MENTAL FORECAST Dr Liviu Poenaru & Dr Stefania Ubaldi May 2026 What does a society become when economic injury no longer stops at the surface of life, but enters the gut, the immune system, and the brain? The microbiome is one of the body’s exposed borders. Industrial food, chronic stress, sleep disruption, antibiotics, pollution, poverty, isolation, and accelerated rhythms pass through it. Mental life is not sealed inside the psyche. It is crossed by microbial metabolite