Evolv-a-Drink

Firstly, I would like to apologize for any incoherency in the following idea. I'm currently suffering from a slight sugar rush- Although this augments my typing speed considerably, my brain isn't going quite fast enough to keep up.

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This is an idea for the algorithmic creation of drinks, alcoholic or otherwise.

First, one would randomly create several "chromosomes", each a recipe for some sort of drink. It would probably be a list of ingredients (Coke, V8, Salt, Vanilla Extract, Blue-Flavored Kool-Aid Powder, etc) and actions (Shake, Refrigerate, Microwave, Boil, Stir, Wait, etc), each appended with numbers explaining the quantity to add or the duration to carry the action out.

Each of these drinks would then be made, preferably by some kind of automated bartender robot, and tested, by which I mean drank. Before the testing of a drink, the current state of the drinker would be measured- temperature, hydration level, drunkeness, and perhaps some other factor(s). The drinker would then consume each drink, and then rate the drink on a 200-point scale ranging from "Vomit-Inducing" to "Perfection".

The data from each drink would then be weighted, based on the drinker data collected, and the resulting fitness values would be used to select the recipes to "breed" to produce the next generation.

The chromosomes would be "bred" to produce new chromosomes, "mutations" would be applied in the form of adjustments to the recipes- say, replace Coke with Pepsi, or add an extra gram of sugar, or delete the "shake" step, or throw in one.

The cycle would repeat, particularly delicious variants would be saved, and the drinks would slowly be optimized into perfection.

(Once fMRI technology or other neural monitoring technology advances enough, perhaps one could simply monitor activity levels in the pleasure center instead of relying on subjective and inaccurate data. One might also make this an iPhone application, so that a much larger gene pool could be tested without taking forever.)