I’ve eaten my feelings on more occasions than we need to get into, but this is the first time I’ve found myself being asked to smell them.

“What do you think?” Anahita Mekanik cocks her head and waits for me to compose my thoughts. I have already zapped a QR code on my phone and submitted to the elaborate—but also nosy and weirdly witty—questionnaire she came up with pertaining to my general scent predilections, as well as the state of my current mood (which, let's be honest, is far from A+). I have stood by and, heart in throat, watched the gleaming and more than vaguely steampunk contraption behind her take in my answers and come up with three formulations. Each one is executed via somersaulting vials, accompanied by cuckoo-clock sound effects. The contraption uses AI to come up with be

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