Can Smarter Computer Matchmaking Algorithms Help With Finding True Love?
As more of the world is choosing to find love online, rather than in in person, I have a curiosity about what will happen to the next few decades of dating culture. Trying to meet women or men out In the world can often be a daunting task that can lead both parties settling for a less than perfect relationship. With dating programs and matchmaking services potentially being a trillion dollar industry worldwide if everyone used them, more companies are focusing on creating smarter algorithms that will better match people together for healthier and longer lasting relationships. The hope is that if we can perfect matchmaking to put the people who are best together in our society, we can create a healthier and happier society as well.
For many years we fought traditional matchmaking by a third party, but with today’s hectic lifestyles and inefficiency of bars and other meeting places, we are quickly opting for other solutions. Even traditional matchmaking by parents is making a comeback in some parts of the developed world as the age of people desiring to get married and having children is getting higher, meaning less time to find a partner. If an algorithm could find you a partner easily, more efficiently and successfully, wouldn’t you choose that option? What is most lacking with current algorithms is usually physical attractiveness which is often a building block for a relationship, but currently this is getting better and in the future will most likely be fixed entirely. Also if you have a bunch of different matches you can siphon out the ones you don’t find attractive, there just needs to be a push in the right general direction.
All of us just want to be happy in live and computer can act as a tool to achieve this. After all this is their main purpose, to make our lives more efficient and easier. In a perfect world with near perfect algorithms, true love would only be a click away. A large majority of happy relationships would benefit society as a whole just by making people happier and in return more productive in their day to day lives. Not to mention children raised by a happily married couple who have a strong relationship are also most likely to be positive contributing members of society as well. The cycle would just continue over and over. Efficiency can improve almost any situation in life so dating shouldn’t be any different. I honestly believe that when smart algorithms are perfected or matchmaking AI systems come into existence, meeting people in the real world and dating them will become a relic practice of the past.
Many governments in the world are actually trying to incentivize marriage and children because of shrinking populations, and are paying for and setting up local matchmaking programs. Japan for example has been slowly facing population shrinkage for years now and in the last couple has had its population decline. Out of fear of a long term continued trend they are willing to take extreme actions to make sure this doesn’t happen. Perhaps rather than supporting local matchmaking gatherings, their time would be best spent researching and developing matchmaking algorithms. It isn’t like people don’t want to be in a relationship, it is just many are too afraid to approach the opposite sex or too tired after a long work day to go out. We might end up seeing one of the many countries that are facing population decline end up being the ones who pioneer computer matchmaking the most.
Times is our most precious commodity in life, so why would we waste multiple years of it on a relationship that is destined to fail or lead to nowhere? People want partners but most of all they want a best friend they can share a more intimate life with. Of course there will never be a completely perfect matchmaking system, but even a 75% chance of a successful marriage would greatly benefit ourselves and our society. Think about how much worry we put towards finding the right person to spend the rest of our lives with and if we could take that out of the equation, how much else we could get done or pursue. As someone who comes from a divorced family and has trouble meeting women today, I am happily looking forward to the potential growth in this future. I am curious to hear what people feel about this topic so feel free to comment and give your own opinion.
-Calaber24p