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People Describe The Worst Dish They've Ever Eaten In Their Entire Life

From a strictly utilitarian sense, food's job is to get nutrients and calories into your body so that you can convert them into energy and not die.

That's it. There's no contractual obligation that it has to be tasty - and sometimes it's just not.


One Reddit user asked:

What's the absolute worst food you've ever eaten?

... it's pretty safe to say these people won't be coming back for seconds ... except maybe the accidental garlic butter pancake person. Savory pancakes could totally work as long as you're expecting it.

Surprise, It's Savory!

My wife would say...

Pancakes that I accidentally cooked in garlic butter. She hated them.

I liked them.

- Sparky62075

Savoury pancakes are the norm where I grew up. But we have big thin pancakes (Europe) and I'm not sure cheese, mushrooms and bacon would translate to American pancakes.

That being said, when we do have sweet pancakes it's generally just sugar and lemon juice which wierded the hell out of some friends from Hong Kong.

- VioletCaracal

The Bog Of Eternal Stench

season 6 episode 22 GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy

Years ago Starbucks did a green tea latte. My Mom and I got one to try cause we like green tea.

It was toxic!

We were emitting fumes that should never come out of a human body! We were riding with the windows down in the middle of winter it was so bad!

When I got to a bathroom, when I was done, what I left behind looked like lawn mulching after being out in the rain for a week straight with a smell on par with what I imagine the bog of eternal stench smells like!

- Jekyll_1886

As a former Starbucks barista, I can confirm that the green tea latte is so yuck! And it's even worse when you realize that it's doused in so much sugar and STILL tastes like wet grass.

You'd have to REALLY like matcha to like that drink. And even then, it's not even good matcha at all.

- is_it_soy

Grease Holding Hands

A brand of frozen pizza. It was just grease molecules holding hands.

- TheSanityInspector

Yup. The brand I'm thinking of tasted just like grease. I didn't know anything could be that bad.

Pizza is one of the best foods ever. Even when it's bad, it should still be good, or at least edible. They managed to totally f*ck it up.

That pizza tastes like it's topped with failure and grease... so much grease.

- ProfessorAnusNipples

Can those grease molecules hold my hand?

- qdust

Curry (?)

Am Indian. Had a curry at someone's house who was not Indian. Straight up did not use any spice but salt. Died on the inside. Ancestors physically manifested to voice disapproval.

- kesh_from_downunder

Man - don't go to France. 'Curry' or extra-spicy 'picante/mexicaine' flavour is, at best, bland tomato with the merest hint of vinegar, and two molecules of mild chilli. I'm convinced the French are only comfortable with four flavours; buttery, very buttery, cheesey, garlicky (with cheesey and buttery undertones).

- heurrgh

How can it be called curry when it has no spices at all? Here I am laughing picturing diced chicken in basically the water it cooked in and being served as curry.

- TenaciousToffee

It Causes Chemical Burns?!

The infamous 삭힌 홍어. Sometimes, when the fermentation is overdone, you can actually get chemical burns in your mouth. But some folks absolutely love it, kinda like marmite.

- SgtTryhard

Many years ago I was reading about non-lethal weapons and one of them was smells that would make people nauseous. And the article was saying they seem to work on most people except Koreans who culturally eat a lot of fermented food.

Not sure what it says about your culture when vomit-inducing smells are met with "mmm tasty!" Weird how flexible the human mind and body is all based on how we are raised. Although Koreans do have a high prevalence of stomach cancer so there are downsides.

- soline

Topped With What?

I attended a wedding of my cousin a few years back. They were part of this cult-like "Christian" sect. The food was not made by a catering company, instead the whole affair was organized by church members.

For dessert they had a mango icebox cake that barely had any cream and was dyed pink for some reason. It had been sitting out for hours under the sun. It was warm and smelled a little funky.

When I got closer I realized it stunk because it was topped with roasted garlic peanuts.

Since whoever made it used it as toppings, I would say either they ran out of/can't find the plain ones and used those instead; or just bought the wrong ingredient.

If I was them I would've just left it out altogether. The garlic taste and smell was overpowering.

We only ate it to be polite and because my siblings and I were daring each other to eat it. My brother managed to eat an entire slice, and yes he's fine. My sister spotted a small sliver of fried garlic in her slice.

It tasted just as bad as it sounds. I almost threw up after taking one bite.

- socialsci123

Hot Dog Soup

Hot Dog Girl GIFGiphy

Hot dog soup.

My dad was in a rehab/assisted living facility. They served it to them as a meal. It was definitely just leftover hotdogs from the day before that they were trying to use up. It was hot dogs, with chunks, but also with pureed hot dogs for the base.

He had both me and my sister taste it.

We were all super grossed out.

- stephacharlotte

Roasted Eye

Goat eye.

I was an "honored guest" at a Bedouin camp and the chieftain honored me by letting me have one of the eyes of a roast goat as he ate the other eye. It truly is an incredible and rare honor ... but my stomach does somersaults just remembering it...

- Malruhn

I have eaten a pig eyeball from a pig roast. You just leave them in when you roast a whole animal so they're fully cooked, they're tougher than bad calamari on the outside and as soft as cream on the inside.

They don't taste terrible, they have the moisture content of 2 deep fried breaded mushrooms, and that fluid stays just as hot as it does in a breaded mushroom.

It didn't taste bad, it tasted like pork - the texture is something that's hard to get past.

- darkfrostystorm

As the guest of honour at a dinner in Hong Kong, I was served up both the 2" eyes of a very large, cooked, cod type fish with about 50 people watching me eat them.

Horrible, fishy, gelatinous balls of foulness!

- Shadow125

The Dip Oil Incident

A piece of what would otherwise have been a tasty bit of beef, dipped in way too much numbing oil (think anbesol).

Okay, so. I went to my friend's family's house for Christmas a few years back. They are Chinese, I am not, and they were having hot pot.

My friend was really worried that I wouldn't like it, but I was super excited and was decently sure I'd love it.

Before we sat down to eat, he helped me make a dipping sauce. It was mostly sesame oil, with some soy sauce and a few other things. We mixed them, we sat down, and got ready to eat.

There were a bunch of different meats, and my friend also pointed out the spicy side and the non-spicy side of the hotpot. I decided to start with the beef, as it was most familiar, and the non-spicy broth.

Took a piece, put it in the hot pot, waited until it cooked. Dipped it in my oil dip, and ate it.

Immediately I knew something was wrong. I couldn't feel my mouth.

I was sure I was having an allergic reaction, despite never having had a food allergy to anything before. I started internally freaking out, and basically trying to figure out how I could get away without making a big scene, because it was a lot of people that I did not know and this was also a friend that I had only recently gotten close to.

Also, it's just gross.


Eating meat when you can't taste it or feel your mouth is awful, especially when you aren't expecting it, and think you're probably dying. I also think that the numbing oil has a quite bitter taste (or maybe that's what your taste buds shutting off tastes like?)

After maybe a minute, which felt like an hour, my friend turned to me and mentioned that there must be a lot of numbing oil in the spicy side of the hotpot.

Oh my gosh. Relief. I'm not dying.

His cousin then pointed out that she saw us putting numbing oil (Sichuan peppercorn oil - which is apparently a Chinese culinary thing, though it's supposed to be used sparingly) in our dipping oil rather than the sesame oil.

My friend mixed up the bottles and the cousin didn't tell us because my friend is kind of weird and cousin assumed we just liked it that way.

I had essentially coated a piece of beef in a mixture that was like 90% numbing oil.

- TheLoveliestKaren

Clean Your Pans

Last year I was on my high school's robotics team, and they were hosting a potluck type thing and one of the desserts was a big donut cake. So I think "dang, that looks delicious! I wonder why it's almost entirely untouched?" and I take a bite. What do I taste?

It tastes like onions.

Not kidding.

The person who baked it must've used the same pan they made some savory dish in and never cleaned it. Honestly just the shock of it all pushed it to the top of my disgusting foods list alone. I felt super rude but I ended up just throwing it in a garbage can.

- Terrezzian

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Things People Truly Believe The U.S. Government Is Hiding From Us

"Reddit user CommonBeginning3132 asked: 'What is something that you’re for sure the US government is hiding from us?'"

Caution Tape at the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.
Photo by Andy Feliciotti

There are certain theories most deem to be "crackpot."

But, there are some conspiracy theories that have a surprising amount of evidence behind them.

Enough that those conspiracies almost seem to hold water as it were.

If only we could all get a little truth from the higher-ups.

A little truth goes a long way, but they insist on holding onto secrets and lies.

I have a laundry list of questions.

And I'm not the only one.

Redditor CommonBeginning3132 wanted to hear about everyone's theories on what we're NOT being told by our elected officials, so they asked:

"What is something that you’re for sure the US government is hiding from us?"

I want to know about the money they "burn."

I refuse to believe it's all trashed.

The Harvest

artificial intelligence no GIF by ADWEEKGiphy

"That comment sections are just one large data harvest of random human thoughts and that data is used to fine-tune AI."

SLObro152

"Well, time to break out the REAL gibberish then."

nogtank

Past Due Date

"How many members of Congress are taking medications that would early retire anyone in the private sector."

TheBubbaDave"

There are likely several members of Congress taking Aricept or Namenda for dementia. Typically once someone needs to start taking those kinds of meds, they're no longer capable of working in an office job (or any job, to be honest)."

BananaPants430

"I wonder at what moment aging politicians realize they're no longer considered a leader in their party and from now on they'll just be occupying a seat for that party for the rest of their lives."

Stumpfinger1

Live Missiles

"I'm convinced that our ICBM protection system is far more accurate than the Pentagon is willing to admit."

KCalifornia19

"The problem with a system protecting the US from nuclear attack is that such a system, no matter how well designed, would be hugely complex, can never be fully tested, and must be close to 100% effective on its first use to have any value."

Renaissance_Slacker

"I was in the navy and my ship was the designated ICBM test ship for the new AEGIS system, we shot down decoy missiles all the time and were 100% effective."

"The missiles are live, there are just no active warheads on them."

iSniffMyPooper

Locations

"The location of nuclear submarines."

Pennsyltuckey54

"The only people who know exactly where the subs are are the navigational and commanding officers on the sub. Even the intelligence and commanding officers that assign the zones for the subs don’t know exactly where they are at any given point. Only the general area they are designated."

TheEveryEmpireFalls

Look Up

Hover Area 51 GIF by GashhudsGiphy

"UFOs and not the alien kind. I'm talking about super high-end secret stuff the military has and is still testing out."

DiamondOrBust

Are they out there?

Will we ever truly know?

They keep a tight lid on that one.

Follow the Money

Bugs Bunny Money GIF by Looney TunesGiphy

"How many politicians have secret offshore bank accounts full of embezzled taxpayer dollars."

Firetaymer70

Money Talks

"The impact wealthy individuals with personal interests have in politics, inside and abroad."

contessamiau

"Just remember when they talk about American interests abroad they aren't talking about the normal citizen's interests. Realistically what happens in some far away land is going to have little impact on my daily life. What they are really talking about is corporate interests every single time. Smedley Butler tried to warn us almost 100 years ago but we just brushed him off."

Slumminwhitey

Budgets

"Good Lord. Clearly, no one commenting here has ever known anyone working for the federal government. The biggest secret they’re keeping from you is that every government agency spends money like a coke addict in the month of September so that their budgets won’t get slashed in the next fiscal year."

tonovay

"Every single bureaucratic organization in the world does this. It’s not a secret at all."

sdreal

What Did They Find?

"I have a very personal reason for wanting to know what they found at Roswell. My grandfather was in the Air Force and was present at the site. All he ever said about it was, 'It wasn’t a damn weather balloon,' then shut down. He was low-ranking, basically just there to drive the higher-ranking personnel, but he saw something, and I wanted to know what it was! He also firmly believed in aliens, so that just adds to my curiosity, especially given how Southern Baptist he was."

GloInTheDarkUnicorn

Happenstance

Always Sunny Reaction GIFGiphy

"Used to believe in this stuff until I started working in government. I’m now convinced that most conspiracy theories can be explained by pure incompetence."

Puzzleheaded_Ice_233

Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments below.

Life can change in a moment, but sometimes, we're not even aware that it's in the process of changing.

Right in front of our eyes, we've taken a job, met a person, or purchased a product that will change our lives in a big way.

Or on the negative side, maybe we're having the unluckiest of days, where we feel the lowest of the low, only for it to lead to something incredible.

The point is, there's no telling what incredible thing is around the corner waiting for us, or what small moment will lead us there.

Redditor NoFile9376 asked:

"What happened totally by accident but changed your life completely?"

Unique Opportunities

"I went for a coffee with a friend before he went out to pitch a TV show in LA. He asked what I was up to, and I mentioned the comic book I was planning to write."

"His pitch went well and the studio asked if he had any sci-fi ideas. He pitched my idea, and a month later I was in LA with a bunch of agents and managers wanting to sign me."

"We got close with that sci-fi concept, and I worked in LA on and off for about a decade working on a lot of cool stuff that never got made, but I got paid very well, so I can’t complain."

"It was basically ‘Oceans 11 in space,’ and it still gets dusted off every now and again. It’s one of those things that everyone loves but never gets made."

"When the pandemic hit, I started writing comics and have been doing that for a few years now. I have a new movie spec script planned for the new year, so I guess we’ll be taking that out and see if anyone bites."

- MikeSizemore

Unappreciative Bosses

"The water main leading into the house burst, requiring the contractors to lay a new pipe from the street into the first floor. I had to clear everything out, and then go get jugged water to last a week for a family of four."

"I asked to take the afternoon off work so I could take care of this, and they said it would be a write-up for an unexcused absence."

"This p**sed me off to no end because I had recouped hundreds of thousands of dollars that my predecessor had lost and generally unf**ked their processes."

"Not really intending to quit, I rage-applied to jobs just to blow off steam and landed a new job with a $30,000 pay boost, WFH (Work From Home), and complete schedule flexibility."

- pinelands1901

The Power of Saying 'Thank You'

"I got into some trouble while very, very drunk."

"When I got sober, I wrote a thank you note to someone who treated me really well and urged me to get help."

"He was friends with the editor of the local newspaper and thought my letter was well-written. He asked if he could show her and I said yes, then kinda forgot about it."

"A few months later, the editor came to find me to offer me a part-time job filling in for someone."

"I've been working in journalism ever since. The pay sucks, but I love it."

- LizardPossum

A Smooth Career Redirection

"Getting my Class A commercial driver's license."

"I basically tried the majority of work that an individual can get into with a GED (General Educational Diploma)."

"I randomly searched the internet for truck driver jobs out of curiosity. The top of the list was a small form to fill out. A recruiter called me within five minutes. They set me up with a bus ticket to their training facility two states over and lodging for the duration."

"All I had to do was bring enough cash and clothes for a week. They paid enough to feed me the rest of the training. I had an over-the-road job lined up for me right out of training. All I had to do was stick it out with that company for at least a year to cover training costs."

"Boom, entry into a skilled labor field at d**n near no upfront cost, and a guaranteed minimum one year of incredibly valuable experience. This was back in 2008."

"And for what it’s worth. I didn’t even own my own vehicle yet back then. And I only tried manual transmission vehicles twice for maybe 10 minutes total prior to learning how to drive a 10-speed."

"Now, I can simply email or walk into a job that interests me with my resume and my experience speaks for itself. I don’t have to sell myself to an employer. They have to sell the job to me."

"I'm currently about to start up with a local company less than a five-minute drive from home, hauling mostly oversized loads up into and out of the mountains. It’s the highest starting wage I’ve ever had, with a guaranteed multiple dollars per hour raise once I demonstrate I can do everything they’ll need me to do."

"The moral of the story is, don’t be afraid to try something new or different. You might just be great at it."

- tumblevv33d

Going Surgery-Free

​"When I was younger, I had a neurological condition called hydrocephalus, which required me to have a shunt in my brain to keep me alive, and every few years, it would break or get infected and have to be replaced."

"About 20 years ago, I developed an infection that my neurosurgeon refused to take seriously, so it wasn't properly diagnosed for about two years after I moved away from that hospital and ended up in the ER."

"Long story short, thanks to some faulty medical equipment that by some weird coincidence wasn't doing its job properly, while I waited for surgery, we discovered that I wasn't actually using my shunt and I didn't need it anymore. So surgery was canceled, and once the infection cleared up, I was sent home."

"It was a really, really awful couple of years, but it ultimately gave me my life back. I'm now 15 years surgery-free and as much as I hate the way it happened, I wouldn't change a thing because if it had happened any other way I would have just had another brain surgery, and then another, and so on."

- NotAngryAndBitter

A Mysterious Lump

"My mother went to the doctor for a routine exam and her doctor noticed a bump on her arm my mom passed off as a cyst. She removed the bump, which she also believed was a cyst, and sent it for a biopsy to be safe."

"Results came back and they weren’t really sure what to make of it. It wasn’t cancer but it wasn’t nothing either."

"Turns out she had a very rare cancer that appeared benign but behaved malignant."

"The doctors had no idea how to treat it, even reaching out to other doctors all over the world."

"She died two years later once it had spread all over her body."

"The kicker is they believe if the initial bump would’ve been left alone it wouldn’t have spread and killed her."

"It’s been two years, five months, and 17 days since she’s been gone, and I will never stop missing her."

- Khaleesi1998

A Second Chance

"I made a left turn instead of a right turn when I noticed a restaurant I liked had closed. I reopened it, and 35 years later, we are still going strong."

"It's not especially heartwarming, but it changed my life as well as my wife, my kids, and 28 employees' lives."

- bbqtom1400

The Choice to Stay a While

"I was working in a large state park as a guide/docent while finishing up my geology degree. I was only interested in science, talking about rock types and tectonics and whatnot."

"It got cold and windy FAST, and snow started coming down and soaking my clothes. I admittedly was not prepared and ducked into a cabin I came across that I thought would be empty."

"It wasn’t. There was a historical interpreter doing traditional chair seat weaving in the cabin. Fire in the hearth and all."

"He said, 'Take your shoes off and stay a while.' Let’s just say that MULTIPLE years later, I own one of the most respected furniture restoration businesses in the state and specialize in antique Appalachian rockers."

"I visit the old man in the nursing home weekly. I go out to the cabin once a month or so to relax and demonstrate to passersby. I took my shoes off and stayed a while."

"P.S. Geology is still cool."

- Most-Cow-2474

The Other Guy

"I accidentally accepted a friend request of (my now husband), thinking it was another guy I knew with a similar name. I was ignoring the request before."

"And the rest is history. We've been married for 12 years, now with two kids."

"The website was Orkut if any of you are old enough to remember it, lol (laughing out loud)."

- zenzephyr42

A Doubly Good Deed

"I was planning to spend $2.49 on a breakfast sandwich and go home to do some chores. They had a two-for-three dollar breakfast sandwich deal."

"I brought the 51-cent bonus sandwich and gave it to a homeless friend. He had a tiny stray puppy following him around and asked me to bring her to the shelter because he couldn't feed her and himself."

"She became my best friend for 13 1/2 years! I'll love you and miss you forever, baby dog!"

- JensElectricWood

It All Began with a Broken Phone

"I dropped my phone from my bed onto the floor and the screen (with the protector) COMPLETELY shattered, which is weird because I’ve dropped my phone from bigger heights and bad angles and there’s usually just dents in the protector."

"Anyway, I was out a phone and super broke, and I didn't have the money to get it fixed right away. None of my friends had extra phones so I posted on my then-company’s slack channel, asking if anyone had a spare phone I could borrow, just for calls and texts, nothing fancy, and I’d be super grateful."

"I was also going through a terrible heartbreak where I’d been love-bombed and then dropped in a second. It was just an awful time."

"So one person responded to my shot in the dark and offered this extra phone he has. I had no clue who he was or what he even did in the company, even though I have several friends in the company. We’d never met because we both worked remotely and no one ever mentioned him to me."

"Our departments were also very different so there was no interaction ever. I was also a bit confused as to why he’d offer a phone to someone he didn’t even know. I thought he was too trusting, lol (laughing out loud)."

"Anyway, he couriered me the phone, I ended up needing it for longer as I saved up, and we finally met up in person a few months later. Long story short, it’s been a couple of years, and he became my best friend and then my SO (significant other)."

"For the first time in my life, I know what healthy, unconditional love is, he is the embodiment of love that keeps on giving. I grew up seeing an abusive marriage so my idea of love and relationships was completely skewed (still learning in progress). But with him, my heart’s calm. He’s my biggest fan and my rock whenever the going gets tough. There’s no one like him. I don’t know anyone as generous in love as he is."

"I remember that time and being absolutely gutted that not only had I got my heart broken in the most miserable way but my phone freakishly completely broke from the shortest of falls, all in a matter of a week."

"I felt so unlucky for the longest time. But looking back now, I’m so glad my phone broke that day (and my then-bf ghosted me). Or there was just no way I’d have ever met the love of my life."

- fluffypoopkins

The Love of a Sibling

"My brother asked out a girl when they were 17."

"My brother started dating this random girl. He needed a job so he started working at the company where her family worked. Next year, I needed a summer job, so they got me a job at the same company. I liked the job and kept working at the company long after my brother and her broke up."

"At 21, I took a job in another state to further that career and moved 700 miles away from home. Now my partner, all my friends, my hobbies, everything that is my adult life is because of that move."

"My brother randomly dating a girl for a year when we were teens changed literally everything about my life."

- ColSurge

The Vital Wake-Up Call

"I almost failed out of college. I tried to up my GPA by doing research WAY too early in my academic career. I met a professor who didn’t even work at my university. I had a brief conversation with him in the lab and he said, 'You’d make a great professor one day.'"

"It changed the course of my life. I scraped by with my Bachelor of Science and was one of the top students in my Master's program. I got a 4.0 for my PhD with several first-author papers."

"Now I work for one of the top professors in my field, I’m talking top three percent."

"That conversation was over 10 years ago. Thank you, Dmitry. I would’ve never met you if I wasn’t failing."

- zagottamove

For the Love of Language

"I randomly decided to take German instead of French when in school as my foreign language the day before class started."

"I'm now a German teacher. It's wild how such a small decision shaped my entire life."

- zapolight

Meant to Be

"I went in on my day off work, thinking I had a shift that day."

"I didn’t but they were short-staffed for the lunch rush, so I stayed for a few hours."

"I ran into my childhood friend who moved away 15 years prior."

"We are now married with kids."

- bree-marie92

These stories are undeniably surprising, and it's incredible how such small moments created such big results in most of these Redditors' cases.

It's important to remember to never take our lives for granted, because there's really no telling what small moment will lead to greatest next phase of our lives.

College classroom
Dom Fou/Unsplash

Many high school graduates face the conundrum of what to major in when they go on to pursue higher education.

Teens who haven't already sparked an interest in a particular field by the time they graduate wind up buying more time waiting for enlightenment by electing "undecided."

But to avoid any stigma of being an idle scholar, some students settle on majors they thought never existed.

"Fun with pasta," anyone?

While such a major might not exist, I wouldn't put it past some academia for coming up with it.

Curious to hear what those unheard-of specialized fields of study are out there, Redditor GazelleHistorical705 asked:

"What is the most ridiculous college major you’ve ever heard of?"

Majors with one word, please.

Sounds Like A Hard Major

"PENIS. My school offered a major in Political Economy of Newly Industrialized Societies, but eventually realized the acronym and changed the name. Pity. I hope some were able to get their degrees with a concentration in PENIS."

– OhMaiMai

Hidden Objective

"Golf."

"It was made so the Vice Chancellor could buy a private golf course for the university, so he could play on it. I believe it had 5 enrollments ever, and one was a joke that didnt show up or pay. It got cancelled the first year, but he got to enjoy his own personal golf course for some years after."

jadelink88

Just Throwing Ideas

"Frisbee. A friends roommate at Amherst was in some kind of 'create your own major' thing and chose frisbee. His family had momey and college was just a formality."

– hightower65

Certain concepts as a major were hard to grasp.

Seed Of Despotism

"IIRC, like 20 years ago some college in Indiana offered a major in World Domination."

– Rev_Christopheles

"You can only get a job as a henchman with a BS."

"You need a full PhD to be an evil mastermind."

– JimBean823

A Vague Focus

"PhD in general studies."

– dravik

"Tf do you even write your dissertation about."

– Fragile_Line

"Everything."

– ProsciuttoPizza

"Generally."

– cropguru357

Let's Take It Outside

"An old friend has a Bachelor's degree in Outdoor Activities. He was never able to explain exactly what that meant, though."

– EnlargedBit371

"A guy I know majored in Recreation."

– kmsc87

"When I was there, my college had one of the top Parks Recreation and Tourism Management (PRTM) programs in the country."

"It had the nickname 'Party Right Through May.'”

"It was extremely popular with student athletes, especially football players."

"There’s always a demand for graduates too. It seems like one of those fields where you shouldn’t need a college degree to do the work, but you need one to get in the door."

– JimBeam823

Going At Your Own Pace

"When I was in uni my friend dated a guy who was majoring in leisure studies. I used to joke that leisure studies is a 4 year program, but if you’re good enough at it you can do it in 6."

– Mtldoggogogo

Things went up a notch.

Arghhh Ya Kiddin' Me?

"At MIT you can be certified in being a pirate if you complete the courses of pistol, archery, sailing, and fencing."

– yhdreytaweatrst

"It’s not a major, it’s a certificate. But if I ever get my own office it’s going in a very nice diploma frame and I’m gonna see who notices."

– PoorCorrelation

Veritable Hodgepodge

"My university had an Interdisciplinary Studies department that served mainly to get super duper seniors graduated. They would cobble together the random credits people got because they changed majors every semester into a 'degree.' You get some wild majors like a BA in Culinary Traditions and Music in the Former British Empire."

– pinelands1901

Sapphic Education

"My college briefly had a major in Nordic Lesbianism."

– WhizzleTeabags

"I've read many of the responses on here where most of them weren't ridiculous imo but you gave the best one!"

– 90DayTroll

"HUH."

– OP

Make It Up

"At a graduation at the University of Redlands. They have a degree whereby you basically take the classes you want and call it what you want."

"The degree conferred was, I kid you not: 'Still trying to figure out who I am.'”

– dmur726

Clearly there's a major for all occasions.

But at the end of the day, does it really matter as long as you have a BA in something to show you were academically tenacious?

Now go out there and carve out your own path, young scholars!

Just make sure you can pay off those student loans.

Maybe there should be a major on how to avoid debt.

human robot illustration

Possessed Photography on Unsplash

Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as:

"the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making and translation between languages."

AI is broken down into four types—from most basic to most advanced:

  1. Reactive machines
  2. Limited memory
  3. Theory of mind
  4. Self-awareness

The first two—reactive machines and limited memory—currently exist.

Reactive machines AI have no memory—it responds directly to current information. An example is a recommendation based on your streaming activity.

Limited memory looks into the past and monitors specific objects or situations over time, and adds the information to adapt responses. Self-driving cars are a good example of limited memory AI.

The other types—theory of mind and self-awareness—don't exist yet.

Theory of mind AI would be able to understand intentions and predict behavior while adjusting its own responses, simulating human interpersonal relationships.

The final step in AI is self-awareness. These would be systems that have a sense of self, a conscious understanding of their existence.

As AI advances, some human work functions will be done cheaper or more efficiently by AI.

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