Now that it’s summer, I’m inhaling flavored seltzers - you know, the carbonated waters that taste as if you’re drinking plain water while someone gently mists your face with mango juice. My favorite flavor is pink grapefruit, but I’m always a sucker for trying new flavors.
What, I inevitably asked, would AI-generated flavors be like?
First, there are the flavors that are edible, if exceedingly strange.
Chilli orange-peel Green pepper Pomegranate-rosemary Mashed avocado Lemon-Miso Pumpkin Apple cider vinegar Mulberry-floral jam Peanut butter Bread-glaze Parsley-orange Mushroom & Garlic Tea Mungbean Olive oil Sage Kelp Rye, grape Ketchup Feta cheese Peanuts and cream Pancake flavored with vanilla
These flavors I’m less sure are edible. Careful questions might be warranted.
Alpaca milk Bamboo, Pineapple Bumble Bee Fir Figs, Sachets Cyanide-free Tequila Tea Palladium Lava E-cigarette blend Methamphetamine Herbicide and deodorant Tiger food and food and drink mix Essence of tobacco, apple, grapefruit, pineapple, coconut, vanilla Bean & Cinnamon-Choco-Peanut Butter
Some of my favorites are when the neural net attempts to be very gourmet. These are either entirely unrealistic, or entirely plausible as drinks at certain bars.
Cotton candy flavored with a pinch of salt and sugar Pimms with apple gin from Scotland A dark, floral-mango drink with black peppercorns Wine and orange tea combined on an oak spoon Danish strawberry cake flavored with cherry, raspberry, honey, and a sprinkle of chocolate. Ink on the top of the bottle: Blackberry-apple green tea, grapefruit tea. Eyeglasses: Holly, gold, green tea, grapefruit and orange. Eyes like a bird’s with a small tail: Cherry, green tea, black tea, raspberry, cherry-apple, orange, rose and lilac.
How can we celebrate freedom while kids are in concentration camps?
When white people benefit from medical pot and black men are still serving out jail sentences for possession of pot?
We’re not free until we’re all free.
Freedom means basic needs for everyone.
Freedom means free public education.
Freedom means forgiving student loan debt.
Freedom means clean water in flint MI.
Freedom means reparations for black people.
Freedom means unconscious bias training for all police officers.
Freedom means dismantling the white supremacist system that continues to oppress POC each time the status quo is reinforced.
Freedom means equal protection under the law in terms of civil rights for LGBTQ.
Freedom means nobody is homeless.
Freedom is providing mental healthcare to abuse victims.
Freedom is collaborating with all nations on earth to stop and then reverse the effects of the climate crisis.
Freedom is mainstreaming into media all the diverse cultures and lifestyles in America and not just the white Christian male heteronormative misogynistic ideal of white supremacy in this country.
Freedom is transcending gender expectations and rigid conformity to fit in.
Freedom is being loved and accepted for who you are by your friends and family.
When we’re reaching each of these milestones then that’s worth celebrating.
“The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it’s very brightly colored, and it’s very loud, and it’s fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, “Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?” And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, “Hey, don’t worry; don’t be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.” And we … kill those people. “Shut him up! I’ve got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.” It’s just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok … But it doesn’t matter, because it’s just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here’s what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.”
