Flower Flirt
Everything online is AI now. You can’t find love in that environment. You need old school.
Very old school.
A 3D-printed bouquet of flowers arrives at my door, each petal perfectly recreated in polymer.
I open my FlowerFlirt app and scan it.
-Pink Rose: 10”, 4 leaves, 8 thorns
-Peony: 9.5”, no leaves
-Purple Tulip, 8”, 2 leaves
-Iris: 6.2”, slight wilt
It goes on. The app analyzes the position of each flower, then displays the message.
Had a great time yesterday! Let’s have brunch tomorrow. 11am downtown okay?
Heck, yeah. I start creating my reply.
Periwinkle, azalea, lily, daisy . . .
Some information on the background inspiration for this story.
The Green-Walled Treehouse 
Fun story. Of course, the secret language of flowers is much older, going back to the early nineteenth century
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Thanks, Neil. Yes, this type of thing has a long history.
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This is very clever and scary at the same time. I LOATHE AL who needs to be run outta town forever. I love all your flower names and the graphic as usual, is great. 🙂
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It’s scary because of how relentless it seems. Tech CEOs are breathlessly taking about how great it is that AI will replace all the jobs but no one is talking about what happens then.
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We’ll just have to hope for the best that it goes south at some point. It sure hasn’t dazzled me, nor you it sounds.
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I am so happy to have lived all of these moments out in the real world…..
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Yes, definitely. Some things (most things) are better in the real world than online.
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Sounds like romance without technology is gone.
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I could see there being a reactionary movement against social media where people only meet in person, but we’ll see. Hopefully I never have to try dating anymore.
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Such a creative story, David. If the sender and the receiver are AI what better way of communicating.
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Thanks, Lisa. I wasn’t thinking of the people being AI but that would be another layer of the absurdity of it all. Thanks for reading.
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Oh, ok. You’re welcome.
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Wonderful write; horrible way of sharing romance! Well done, David.
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yeah, I like the absurdity of how convoluted it all is. A very Rube Goldberg way of wooing someone. Sounds terrible though, yeah. 🙂 Have a great weekend!
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Seriously!
You, as well!
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Dear David,
Ah the synthetic world seems to be upon us. Quirky and fun story, but a little too real for comfort. Good to see you here this week. Hope your Thanksgiving is a happy one.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle. I’m around when I can. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving too. Yes, writing about things that aren’t true but plausibly could be can be too close for comfort sometimes. Hopefully we can avert things before 99.99% of things online are AI.
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the times they are a-changin’ … and not necessarily for the better
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yeah, not all changes are for the better. But considering how history goes, I’m optimistic things will get better.
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