1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,680 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 1: learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:17,600 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. 5 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 2: Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, 6 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 2: my name is Noel. 7 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 3: They call me Ben. 8 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 4: We are joined as always with our super producer Andrew 9 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 4: Treforce Howard. Most importantly, you are you. You are here. 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,839 Speaker 4: That makes this the stuff they don't want you to know. Folks, 11 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 4: we are at the end of the calendar year of 12 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 4: twenty twenty four. A lot of people are dealing with 13 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 4: love hard won, love heard lost, and it's often said 14 00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:00,279 Speaker 4: the course at true love never did run smooth? Make 15 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 4: that up? 16 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 3: That shakes man. 17 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,040 Speaker 5: He's no slouch. Sorry, maybe he didn't make it up either. 18 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 5: Isn't there a whole thing that maybe he didn't write 19 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 5: any of his own stuff. 20 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 3: I think that's been pretty well debunked though. 21 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 4: Right we have an episode on that as well. But 22 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 4: it's something everybody can agree with, Noel. It's one of 23 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 4: the few consistent patterns across all of humanity's strange experiment. 24 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,639 Speaker 4: You know, most of us tuning in tonight have at 25 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:31,199 Speaker 4: one point or another sadly encountered heartbreak. And it's it's 26 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:35,039 Speaker 4: weird to think about how privileged we are here in 27 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 4: the modern age because back in the day, romance, like 28 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 4: the person you would spend your life with, it was 29 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 4: primarily decided by your physical and socioeconomic proximity. 30 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 3: Oh, things have changed. 31 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 2: Not not well in your family, right, They just say, wow, 32 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 2: that's this other family. It's going to be strategic for us, 33 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 2: So you're going to take one for the team. 34 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 5: It's interesting though, like you know, in terms of things 35 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 5: one might google like how to make a million dollars 36 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 5: and how to fall in love or probably on equal 37 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 5: footings in terms of things that there is no magic 38 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 5: answer for. 39 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,799 Speaker 4: Yeah, And to Matt's earlier point, that was still an 40 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 4: improvement based on the previous stuff, which was, Hey, I 41 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 4: know this is technically your cousin, and I know there 42 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 4: are some recessive traits, but the Habsburg Empire must continue. 43 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:32,080 Speaker 2: Yes, and there's some land acquisitions that are tied to 44 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:33,399 Speaker 2: the soul nuptial thing. 45 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 3: So huge tracks of land, yes, huge tracks of land. 46 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 4: That's what I think is amazing about him or her. 47 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 4: They're huge tracts of lands. So nowadays across the world. 48 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 4: As you know, fellow conspiracy realist, more and more people 49 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 4: are turning to technology in the eternal search for affection 50 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 4: for love. In a very short span of time, dating 51 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:06,399 Speaker 4: apps and services have exploded. Some people hate it, some 52 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 4: people love it. Tonight is not about dating advice, but 53 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 4: if we could, you guys, in case this ends up 54 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 4: being a two parter, could we recommend some dating applications 55 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 4: for people well. 56 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 3: In terms of hating it or loving it. 57 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 5: It really just has kind of become an inevitable reality. 58 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 5: It's kind of the way a lot of people, mean, 59 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 5: young people coming up. It just seems like this is 60 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 5: just how it's done. I met some people in the 61 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 5: past through Bumble. In the early days, I used Tender, 62 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,240 Speaker 5: but then, like you know, different apps start to get 63 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 5: different reputations. Tenders become like something more of like a 64 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 5: hookup kind of market show, and Bumble is maybe more 65 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 5: for like older folks or middle aged folks. 66 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 3: And I think the big one is Hinge these days. 67 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 2: I've heard tell of Hinge. I've seen that's the only 68 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 2: one I've seen actually looked at. I've never seen anybody 69 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 2: open Tinder on their phone and like look through it. 70 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 2: Or have downloaded it or any of those. It's weird. 71 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 2: I need to need to get on that. The only 72 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 2: one I know of is Lumberjack Dating dot Com, which 73 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,360 Speaker 2: uh sure, I haven't actually used it. I just went 74 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 2: to their website and it says ready to meet a 75 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 2: genuine lumberjack who knows how to treat a woman. 76 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 4: Hey this baby or year, Matt. 77 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 5: I mean you got to have a certain circumference of 78 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:28,720 Speaker 5: bicap to even qualify though. 79 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 4: If I'm not, that's the right shout out to Paul 80 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 4: Bunyan xx six x X. Also, I'd like to highly 81 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 4: recommend Night Walk. It does not have any of the vowels. 82 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:43,159 Speaker 4: You'll find it if you need it. 83 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:46,799 Speaker 3: Is that your your app Ben, that your that you've piloted. 84 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 4: No comments. 85 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,600 Speaker 5: That sounds so safe, guys. Can I just say though, 86 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 5: that Paul Bunyan bit of a babe. 87 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,280 Speaker 4: You're thinking a bit of Babe the Blue walks. 88 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 3: That's right, That's right. It was. It's an online dating joke. 89 00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:05,359 Speaker 4: So do check out Babe the Blue Ox available now 90 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 4: wherever you find your favorite applications. Listen, what we're telling 91 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 4: you is there is a conspiracy afoot with all this 92 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 4: dating Shenanigan, Rea online. 93 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 2: And we're going to tell you all about it after 94 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:26,919 Speaker 2: a word from our sponsors. 95 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 4: Here are the facts. First, let's define online dating. It's 96 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,600 Speaker 4: an umbrella term for, as you can tell, folks a 97 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 4: wide range of services. They specialize in any number of preferences, demographics, ages, incomes, 98 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:52,599 Speaker 4: personal situations, occupations. One thing that's interesting I would say 99 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 4: about dating apps in the modern era is that it 100 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:03,360 Speaker 4: is can completely okay on a dating app to say 101 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 4: I only prefer a certain demographic of people. 102 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 5: Sort of the whole point, right, It's like a feature, 103 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,679 Speaker 5: not a bug. It's kind of the thing that differentiates 104 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 5: some of the apps from one another. 105 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 4: You're not a lumberjack GTFO. Oh you're not a farmer. 106 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:22,479 Speaker 4: This is farmer's only. 107 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 3: Well, yeah, it is weird too, pulling up the rude 108 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 3: begas get out of town. 109 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:28,799 Speaker 2: And as we're going to discuss in the episode, that 110 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 2: kind of set of circumstances, using an algorithm to match 111 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,599 Speaker 2: the user with their preferences ends up getting spun and 112 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 2: turned around and flipped. So now it's just who are you? 113 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 2: Who are you? And what will people like about you? 114 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 2: And then it just it gets tangled up in itself 115 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:47,480 Speaker 2: really quickly. 116 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,839 Speaker 4: Guys, it's everything you hate about dating in real life 117 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:56,880 Speaker 4: and everything you hate about auditioning in real life, and 118 00:06:56,920 --> 00:06:59,919 Speaker 4: so now you can have them together, and it's everything 119 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 4: you hate about social media. Whatever specializations these services may 120 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:09,479 Speaker 4: focus on, they have one thing in common. They require 121 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 4: the Internet to function. Fifty years ago, this sounded bonkers, right, 122 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 4: this sounded absolutely nuts. Can you imagine you, guys have ancestors. 123 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 4: Can you imagine going back in time to your ancestors 124 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 4: and attempting to explain tender what would you say? 125 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 5: They'd probably kill you, kill me dead on site, at least, 126 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 5: you know, once I, once I started speaking, I think 127 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 5: it was witchcraft. 128 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:41,160 Speaker 2: You'd have to start by explaining, like what a classified 129 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 2: ad is, because they might understand a newspaper or you know, 130 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 2: something like that. Maybe not, maybe you'd have to explain 131 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 2: the newspaper then classified ad. Then Now imagine if you 132 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 2: did this on. 133 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 5: Mass how far back I guess I'm picturing I guess 134 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 5: so I'm saying, I guess I'm picturing ancients. Very difficult conversation, 135 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 5: but you know your results may vary depending on how 136 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 5: far back you go. 137 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 4: To Ben's point, well, like how far back do you go? 138 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 4: You know, you go far enough back, and you're saying, hey, 139 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 4: did you ever wonder if those Neanderthals over in the 140 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:22,000 Speaker 4: next horizon are cool? Did you ever think about, you know, 141 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:27,480 Speaker 4: cuddling up. We're gonna leave that there. 142 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,600 Speaker 5: But also, I mean the question also then kind of 143 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 5: begins to surround the nature of partnership and the nature 144 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 5: of like what is someone looking for? In the olden days, 145 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 5: it would have been, to your earlier points that both 146 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 5: of you fellas much more about acquisition, about land, about family, 147 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 5: about tying into a dynasty your wife and child, oh well, 148 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:52,520 Speaker 5: of course. And then further back than that it would 149 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 5: have been more about protection, you know, and about this 150 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 5: kind of almost tribalism as opposed to you know, who 151 00:08:58,679 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 5: was going to be the big spoon? 152 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 4: Mm hmm, yeah. Yeah. As we said in previous evenings, 153 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 4: the escalation of human society is best portrayed as this. 154 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 4: One you have the family, right, everybody's related. Two you 155 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 4: have the tribe, everybody has this common interest. Three you 156 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 4: have the religion. Four you have the state, Five you 157 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 4: have the company right, and maybe six you have the 158 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:32,200 Speaker 4: galaxy or the solar system dream galaxy brand yeah, so 159 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 4: you're absolutely right. No, in terms of the modern day, 160 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 4: right now, people seem to be in the West, I 161 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:52,079 Speaker 4: wouldn't say rejecting, but perhaps interrogating traditional social norms, romantic norms. 162 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 4: The US Census Bureau found in twenty twenty three that 163 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:02,960 Speaker 4: in their estimation, nearly fifty percent of the US population 164 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 4: forty seven percent, they said, considers itself single. The data 165 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,040 Speaker 4: doesn't always agree. It makes me think there were a 166 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:19,000 Speaker 4: couple folks maybe putting themselves as single with someone at 167 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:23,720 Speaker 4: home who would have a problem with that. It's complicated, Yeah, 168 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 4: shout out Facebook. 169 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 3: Oh gosh, must we The. 170 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 4: Few research centers says that three and ten Americans are 171 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 4: single either way you slice it historically, that's a lot 172 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 4: of people, right. 173 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 3: Right, Well, I believe that forty seven percent consists of 174 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 3: just over one hundred and seventeen million people in the 175 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 3: United States that consider themselves single. Slash. 176 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:52,680 Speaker 4: It's complicated, Yeah, single slash. It's complicated. Working it out. 177 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 4: Here's the sad truth that we have to admit a 178 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 4: lot of folks right now who are listening this evening 179 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 4: are single and perhaps maybe not happy with that. 180 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:05,440 Speaker 3: They may want to. 181 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 4: Be booed up or cuffed. As hip Hop says. This 182 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 4: is where the statistics show us the popularity of dating apps. 183 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 4: In the United States alone, nearly again three and ten 184 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:28,680 Speaker 4: US adults used a dating site or app, and more 185 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:34,800 Speaker 4: than forty percent of people interviewed. They state that online 186 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 4: dating has made dating easier. Now you don't just have 187 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 4: to rock up at an art show, you know what 188 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 4: I mean. Now you don't just have to pretend that 189 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:50,559 Speaker 4: you're at that tree planting or soup kitchen or museum 190 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 4: every day. 191 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:56,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, you just say, hey, you're cool, we matched be 192 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 2: at my house at ten. 193 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,160 Speaker 4: Flighte whoa super. 194 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,880 Speaker 2: Lightt mess I get. Look this, I have no experience 195 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:06,199 Speaker 2: with it. That's what I've been hearing through several of 196 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:07,840 Speaker 2: the sources we were looking at today that it just 197 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:11,600 Speaker 2: becomes at times because there are so many human beings 198 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:14,120 Speaker 2: out there, it's like you gotta just meet who you 199 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:15,880 Speaker 2: can and see if. 200 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:20,600 Speaker 3: And you know, being a dude as well. 201 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 5: Like I've navigated through multiple of these and I've met 202 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 5: some people that were great and some people that were awful. 203 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 5: But there is some comfort in knowing that if you're 204 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 5: there for the same reason, you're not gonna accidentally put 205 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 5: your foot in your mouth, or you know, even worse, 206 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:37,680 Speaker 5: get the wrong idea and have someone think you're being 207 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 5: a creep because you know what the stakes are, you 208 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:41,280 Speaker 5: know what the score is. 209 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 3: You're both there for the same reason. 210 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:44,840 Speaker 5: Not to say that there aren't tons of creeps on 211 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 5: these online dating sites, but that was sort of a 212 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 5: selling point for me, was that it took some of 213 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:53,080 Speaker 5: that that's unknown out of the equation because I am just, 214 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 5: you know, extra concerned about anyone thinking that I have 215 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:57,199 Speaker 5: any intention other than you. 216 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:01,959 Speaker 2: Know, normal wace is that the I guess it. We'll 217 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:04,200 Speaker 2: talk about it varies by the app, like what the 218 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 2: app sells itself as what you will be selling yourself 219 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 2: as when you use the app, right, but I guess 220 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,440 Speaker 2: yeah there, and they call those the hookup apps versus 221 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 2: some of the other ones that we'll get into. 222 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:18,959 Speaker 5: Well, I just mean like, if you're matching with somebody, 223 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:21,280 Speaker 5: you know that you're in an early kind of getting 224 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:23,960 Speaker 5: to know you phase, as opposed to having to rock 225 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 5: up to Ben's point, to somebody at an art show 226 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:30,199 Speaker 5: or a bar and feel like you're, you know, peeing 227 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 5: in the wind for lack of a better term. 228 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:35,120 Speaker 4: Well, what we're really talking about there, gentlemen, is the 229 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:40,720 Speaker 4: concept of information asymmetry. To your point, Noel, knowing what 230 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:46,840 Speaker 4: is expected by both parties, what is informed consent? Yes, 231 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:49,960 Speaker 4: that can be a huge win, and there are quite 232 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:54,800 Speaker 4: a few deep economic structures at play. We do know 233 00:13:55,320 --> 00:14:00,120 Speaker 4: that it appears the Western world for a while for 234 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:07,960 Speaker 4: super dug they superl liked dating apps. They swiped right 235 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 4: on that stuff because in twenty twenty three in the 236 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,960 Speaker 4: United States alone, for people in the dating market in 237 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:20,640 Speaker 4: twenty twenty three in the United States, when asked their 238 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 4: preferential milieu or medium for meeting a partner, thirty two 239 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 4: percent said I'm going to meet them at a concert 240 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,480 Speaker 4: or a festival, which I take to mean some sort 241 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 4: of social event. Thirty three percent said I want to 242 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 4: be connected via a friend, a known trusted entity. To 243 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 4: your earlier point, let's grade down on that information asymmetry 244 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:53,760 Speaker 4: if we can. Here's number one with a bullet. Forty 245 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:59,160 Speaker 4: two percent said online dating apps. That's where I get 246 00:14:59,200 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 4: my kicks. 247 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:02,240 Speaker 2: Oh boy, And with that, we're going to take a 248 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:04,680 Speaker 2: quick break. Hear a word from our sponsors and we'll 249 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 2: be right back with more. And we've returned. 250 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:18,880 Speaker 3: So where did this all begin. 251 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 5: I mean, we certainly know, you know, things like the 252 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 5: personals ads and sort of more historical predecessors to online dating. Right, 253 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 5: these actually date pretty far back, but not maybe as 254 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 5: far back as I might have thought. To the late 255 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 5: fifties and early sixties. Stanford students Jim Harvey and Phil 256 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:41,600 Speaker 5: Filer used a questionnaire and an very whole school probably 257 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 5: incredibly large IBM six fifty computer to match up forty 258 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 5: nine men and forty nine women. 259 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,600 Speaker 4: Oh yeah, picture the transistors, you know what I mean. 260 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 4: And they they hit a good Vin diagram on forty 261 00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 4: nine C and forty nine B or whatever, and then 262 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:05,160 Speaker 4: all of a sudden, the transistors burst like like you're 263 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 4: creating Frankens. We've gone to match. 264 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 3: It's a love I can never forget guys. 265 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 5: When we all went to Vegas together and we were 266 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 5: just obsessed with that Frankenstein slot machine. 267 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 3: That that voice rings in my head constantly. It's alive, 268 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:23,720 Speaker 3: It's alive. Sorry, unrelated, but you triggered me there. 269 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 2: Ben lost a lot of money on that thing, do 270 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 2: you guys remember? Greater great expectations or greater expectations is 271 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 2: the VHS dating SNL spoof? Right, Lle was that Chappelle. 272 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:47,640 Speaker 5: I don't know exactly where it came from, but I 273 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 5: definitely remember the little theme tune for sure. 274 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 2: The real thing was called Great Expectations, and it was 275 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 2: like VHS dating very eighties sign up. But because like 276 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 2: how I kept trying to imagine, like how the heck 277 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 2: would you actually get a hold of the VHS tapes 278 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:05,760 Speaker 2: of all the people that are going on aagistics. 279 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 4: Also, it's self selecting at that point for people with 280 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:14,360 Speaker 4: access to certain kinds of technology, which we'll see as 281 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 4: even crooked, which is a word I made up. It's 282 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,040 Speaker 4: American emlash. I'm still learning it. 283 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:24,359 Speaker 5: Tuned into an upcoming episode of Ridiculous History to find 284 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:26,160 Speaker 5: out more on the history of. 285 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 4: American My gosh, who buddy, So, I would say, our 286 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 4: collective favorite example of early technology or you know, computer 287 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 4: technology beating the Long Road to love is a guy 288 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:47,280 Speaker 4: named Ed Lewis back in nineteen sixty three. This guy 289 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:51,680 Speaker 4: also got a pretty old IBM computer. It was new 290 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 4: at his time, and he made a questionnaire and it 291 00:17:55,600 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 4: was entirely so that he could quote optimize the meeting 292 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:04,959 Speaker 4: potential at dances for himself. 293 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 5: That's fun, nothing weird, you know, what's funny about that, 294 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:11,960 Speaker 5: Ben is I was just recently thinking about the old 295 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 5: expression I don't have room on my dance card, to 296 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 5: which I kind of looked that up, and that was 297 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 5: a thing man there was like, you know, women dances, 298 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:26,679 Speaker 5: social gatherings or whatever, would have this thing that has 299 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:29,439 Speaker 5: resembled like the little ticket you'd find at the inside 300 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,119 Speaker 5: of a library book, and you would kind of schedule 301 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 5: the boys that you were gonna cut a rug with, 302 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 5: and that you could say if you didn't want to 303 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 5: do something or didn't want to dance, you say, I'm sorry, 304 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:41,440 Speaker 5: I don't have room on my dance card, which is 305 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 5: where that expression comes from, for like not having time 306 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:45,200 Speaker 5: to do something with somebody. 307 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 4: Wow, amazing, And it's weird because we don't have dance cards. 308 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 4: Now we should get them. 309 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,919 Speaker 5: We don't have dances, we should dance, so we should 310 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,919 Speaker 5: we should take take Maud's advice. 311 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,440 Speaker 2: From Harold and Maud, it's a really interesting point. I 312 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,000 Speaker 2: don't want to jump ahead with it, but it reminds 313 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 2: me of the Atlantic article that I think we all 314 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:13,159 Speaker 2: read for this that was talking about the difficulty of 315 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 2: getting women to use these apps. Again, we're gonna have 316 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 2: to talk about it in a moment, but thinking about 317 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:24,360 Speaker 2: the dance card as a thing where and maybe I'm 318 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:28,640 Speaker 2: wrong here, correct me, guys, But in my mind, the 319 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:35,600 Speaker 2: historically it's often been, often not always been males chasing 320 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 2: after a female is in like, I'm going to pursue 321 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:42,200 Speaker 2: that pretty lady and I will attempt to date. 322 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:44,720 Speaker 3: That she will be mine, oh yes, or it will 323 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:45,159 Speaker 3: be mine. 324 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 2: Or in this case, I will dance with her. I 325 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 2: want to dance with her. But oh, and then it 326 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 2: is in the woman's position to say no, no, no, 327 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 2: I don't know. 328 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 5: But also the stakes were so much higher back then. 329 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:57,679 Speaker 5: If you got on that dance card, you might have 330 00:19:57,720 --> 00:19:59,880 Speaker 5: a one out of ten shot of marrying that gal. 331 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:00,880 Speaker 3: You know what I mean? 332 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:04,879 Speaker 4: I mean, well, sure courtship. What we used to say 333 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,440 Speaker 4: back in I guess we call it the eighteen hundreds 334 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:13,120 Speaker 4: is a man pursues a woman until she catches him 335 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:19,359 Speaker 4: fair enough. This is obviously not a thing that has 336 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,879 Speaker 4: aged well. But I think what you're proposing here, Matt, 337 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 4: is a sort of Newtonian association right of chaser and chase. Right, 338 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,119 Speaker 4: one must be one or the other. And we see 339 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 4: that this is to your point, Noll a function of 340 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 4: the economic and survival realities, the situation, the environment at 341 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,840 Speaker 4: the time. Over, if we go back to ED in 342 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:52,400 Speaker 4: nineteen sixty three, spoiler worked out, but not the way 343 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 4: he wanted. Over the next few decades, we see this 344 00:20:56,359 --> 00:21:02,680 Speaker 4: continuing trend of computer assisted questionnaires. Now you don't have 345 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:07,679 Speaker 4: to just publish a classified advertisement. Now you don't have 346 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 4: to just say, you know, mail eight hundred and seventy 347 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 4: three years old in tonight walks looking for interesting company. 348 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,080 Speaker 4: Now you can just say you tell me, you can 349 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:25,120 Speaker 4: put the onus on the person that you want to meet. 350 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 4: You can say, give give me your answers for this 351 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,760 Speaker 4: sort of stuff. And at the same time we see 352 00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:37,080 Speaker 4: the rise of things like mail order brides to your 353 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 4: earlier point, we see video dating services. In the nineteen eighties, 354 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 4: we see the rise of dating what are they called BBS's. 355 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,880 Speaker 5: Well message boards right or well yeah, but like physical right, 356 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:52,720 Speaker 5: they would have been actual. 357 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 3: There was no Internet yet, right, this is not online. 358 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 4: No, they got out there. There were early. 359 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 5: Early versions of subscription based kind of almost like newsgroup 360 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,119 Speaker 5: kind of situations, very early Internet, that makes sense. 361 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,920 Speaker 4: And then you get the first modern dating site, by 362 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:17,320 Speaker 4: which we mean a website built entirely to get people together. 363 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 4: It's called kiss dot com. In a burst of creativity, 364 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 4: it hits the net in nineteen ninety four. 365 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,800 Speaker 3: Surprised Kiss the Band didn't have that lockdown already. 366 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 4: Where were you. 367 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 5: G he's a vase, very litigious too. I don't know 368 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 5: if you he's usually on the top of that I 369 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,240 Speaker 5: would have thought. I mean, I'm surprised we haven't read 370 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,240 Speaker 5: some sort of lawsuit kerfuffle with kiss dot com against 371 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 5: the Kiss or the Kiss organization. 372 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:47,880 Speaker 4: You guys, let's check it out right now. Kiss dot 373 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:53,400 Speaker 4: com just says kiss dot com see photos of singles 374 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:58,360 Speaker 4: near you. Oh, and there's a button that says match and. 375 00:22:58,320 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 3: Then it takes you to match. 376 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:06,159 Speaker 5: Maybe you got the vintage landing page with nothing on 377 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:10,119 Speaker 5: it other than a link out to the modern version. 378 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:13,680 Speaker 4: So fast forward a little bit. 379 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 2: Uh. 380 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:20,000 Speaker 4: We know that yid y id dot com launched in 381 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 4: South Africa just shortly after Kiss dot com, and yid 382 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:31,080 Speaker 4: dot com was a specifically Jewish dating site. Other countries, 383 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:33,120 Speaker 4: other demographics followed. 384 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:33,440 Speaker 3: Suit. 385 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:38,680 Speaker 4: The world knew there was this crazy horizon ahead. Investors 386 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:43,040 Speaker 4: knew there was a crazy horizon ahead, and dating platforms 387 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:47,240 Speaker 4: only grew more and more and more popular. The real 388 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:49,080 Speaker 4: thing that changed the game. 389 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:54,919 Speaker 2: Aim was a message sorry sorry. That's what changed the 390 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:56,679 Speaker 2: game for me. That's how I've ended up meeting a 391 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 2: bunch of people. 392 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 5: Online in flirtation machine and random chat rooms. 393 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:03,480 Speaker 4: What's your asl bro? 394 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:06,800 Speaker 2: Uh oh that People ask me that all the time, 395 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,880 Speaker 2: and I pretend like I was a twenty year old. 396 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:14,480 Speaker 2: And then I remember just being like feeling, I like, 397 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:16,800 Speaker 2: I was so cool because I could talk to people. 398 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,680 Speaker 5: So you were like in your teens, but you were pretending, liked, 399 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:21,000 Speaker 5: pretend to be older. 400 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 2: Everybody my age, our age, was in middle school just 401 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:29,119 Speaker 2: acting on the internet like they're everybody and anybody, just 402 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:31,320 Speaker 2: to be weird with it, I think, and we were 403 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:32,560 Speaker 2: trying to figure out stuff. 404 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 3: It was full school. 405 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,000 Speaker 4: It was so much fun and weird, the humans gregarious. 406 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:38,959 Speaker 4: It's neat to talk to strangers. 407 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:43,119 Speaker 2: It didn't feel scary at all until we realized it 408 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:43,880 Speaker 2: was terrifying. 409 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:48,720 Speaker 5: What you're describing is pretty, you know, charming and naive 410 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:50,480 Speaker 5: pretend to being at middle school. 411 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:51,320 Speaker 3: I pretending to be older. 412 00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 5: But what of course ended up happening was old people 413 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:56,480 Speaker 5: pretending to be middle schoolers. 414 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 3: And that's where it kids gross exact. 415 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 4: Yeah, and that continues today. So the seeds of the 416 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 4: evil trees were planted long ago. If we go past 417 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:15,480 Speaker 4: aim Messenger to the early two thousand's twenty ten's, the 418 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 4: revolution is the smartphone. We have a thing called Grinder, 419 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:25,359 Speaker 4: which was very forward facing for its time, not just 420 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:31,119 Speaker 4: because it was designed for the LGBTQ plus community, but 421 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 4: also because they took the E out of the word 422 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:39,479 Speaker 4: you know, So now it's they kind of set the 423 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 4: tread on that one. 424 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,159 Speaker 5: One hundred percent, I mean, and again, like you know, 425 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 5: it's not something that I've experienced directly, but that's another 426 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 5: app that part of its selling point is almost like 427 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,640 Speaker 5: very quick geolocation of people who just want to hook up. 428 00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,080 Speaker 5: It is largely looked at, by my understanding, to be 429 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 5: less of a long term meeting my soulmate kind of 430 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 5: app and more of like a casual kind of thing. 431 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:12,600 Speaker 2: Yeah. And one of the major I would say revolutions 432 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:15,679 Speaker 2: moving away from a laptop or desktop back in the 433 00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:19,240 Speaker 2: day largely to the phone, like that is that you're 434 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 2: mobile using this thing, so you're not at home talking 435 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,000 Speaker 2: to somebody. You're now at the club or you are 436 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 2: you know, at a restaurant and you can open your 437 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 2: app and see who's nearness. 438 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:34,840 Speaker 4: Yeah to the earlier statement there, you know, dating pre 439 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:45,040 Speaker 4: technology or technological innovation was requisite on socioeconomic or physical proximity. 440 00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 4: And to your point, Matt, now with your proximity visible 441 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:54,680 Speaker 4: and approachable, now you can see whomever is near you 442 00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:56,159 Speaker 4: wherever you may go. 443 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:58,320 Speaker 5: And to me, that, to my understanding, that is a 444 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 5: pretty I'm sure there are others you know that have 445 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,680 Speaker 5: this feature, but that's a pretty Grinder specific kind of thing. 446 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:06,680 Speaker 5: Whereas you know, if you have an app like Tender 447 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:08,600 Speaker 5: or Bumble or Hinge or whatever you might put in, 448 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 5: I only want matches with people that live within thirty 449 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:12,959 Speaker 5: miles of me, you know, but you're not going to 450 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,159 Speaker 5: see them as a blip on a map where you 451 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 5: can walk right. 452 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:16,360 Speaker 3: Up to them. 453 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 5: That would be considered privileged information and you do not 454 00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 5: want to give that kind of information out unless you 455 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 5: are ready to meet somebody in person, and usually then 456 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:27,399 Speaker 5: you meet it like I mutually agreed upon kind of 457 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:31,560 Speaker 5: public place. But Grinder is very specifically I think geo centric. 458 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:34,040 Speaker 5: That's very real time data driven. 459 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 4: Which requires yeah, as you said, Noll, the data and 460 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:41,280 Speaker 4: you know folks, it may be a bummer to say 461 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,719 Speaker 4: the love of my life is in me and mar 462 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,280 Speaker 4: I will never meet them because I don't have my 463 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:53,119 Speaker 4: settings correct. We have to understand that the appearance of 464 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:59,080 Speaker 4: Tender in twenty twelve reshape the landscape because a gamified 465 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:04,120 Speaker 4: sex and love you swipe right to like you, swipe 466 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 4: left to pass. For a while, this was a free action. 467 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:13,520 Speaker 4: I'm sure it continues now. I have never dated online. 468 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,640 Speaker 4: I meet you know, I mean, my lover's the old 469 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:23,640 Speaker 4: school way getting deported suddenly finding finding finding a date 470 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:28,400 Speaker 4: becomes more like playing a game or taking a survey. 471 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,560 Speaker 4: Then it becomes like meeting someone and knowing them. It's 472 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 4: a weird, weird audition process to put. 473 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,040 Speaker 5: People in and it really does kind of in many ways, 474 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:40,960 Speaker 5: cheapen the experience. You know, it can sort of like 475 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:44,240 Speaker 5: make you a little bit jaded when everything is just 476 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:47,200 Speaker 5: a picture that you are swiping. It is a pretty 477 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 5: surface level kind of exercise, you know, for the most part. 478 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,240 Speaker 2: And with the advent of Tinder, what you also begin 479 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 2: to see. And again only with hindsight do we realize this, 480 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 2: but we all anyone who is using Tender, who began 481 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:08,480 Speaker 2: that process started to see that there is an endless 482 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:13,920 Speaker 2: stream of individuals out there. So you now get you 483 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,240 Speaker 2: start to get into the problem of well, if I 484 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,840 Speaker 2: swipe right on that person, I might be missing the next, 485 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,120 Speaker 2: you know, person that I really want to date, or 486 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:26,520 Speaker 2: I really would match with her I think would be 487 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,640 Speaker 2: super sexy. Yeah, if I'd swipe right on that, maybe 488 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 2: I'm I'm screwing up. I should just swipe left until 489 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:34,080 Speaker 2: I find the perfect one. 490 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:37,680 Speaker 4: I only got so many swipes. What am I gonna do? 491 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:38,840 Speaker 4: Pay this app? 492 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 5: The app says, Yeah, that's gamified as well, because like 493 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 5: a lot of like quote unquote free games, you know, 494 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,760 Speaker 5: phone apps, there are in app purchases you can you 495 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 5: gotta buy more hearts or in game currency or whatever, 496 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 5: and like in tender, you can get buy the super 497 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 5: swipe again the things that things that obviously changed. I'm 498 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:00,920 Speaker 5: sure I have since I'm that's with it. But all 499 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,320 Speaker 5: you do run up against you know, you've run out 500 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:06,000 Speaker 5: of swipes and you have to wait, or you could 501 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:09,240 Speaker 5: pay X number of dollars an upgrade to the premium version. 502 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:12,920 Speaker 4: The freemium model, yes, which we'll get to. The thing 503 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:17,000 Speaker 4: is there is little to no stigma attached to online 504 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:21,600 Speaker 4: dating today. You know, not too long ago it was 505 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:29,240 Speaker 4: considered somehow inappropriate to meet someone through a classified advertisement 506 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 4: in print, and some of us in the audience tonight 507 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:39,240 Speaker 4: realize how recent that was. Dating online is a normalized 508 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:42,760 Speaker 4: tool nowadays a lot of people have met for casual 509 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:48,720 Speaker 4: flings or they've found themselves in lifelong, committed, happy relationships 510 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 4: having issue I mean by which I mean creating children. 511 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:57,360 Speaker 4: Last year, the boffins at Pew Research found get this, 512 00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 4: I think this is an amazing statistic. One inten partnered 513 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 4: adults people are married, living with a partner, or in 514 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:11,280 Speaker 4: a committed romantic relationship. One in ten of those folks 515 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 4: met their current partner through a dating site or through 516 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:21,040 Speaker 4: an app. So those are good results. 517 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:23,480 Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I met my current partner through a 518 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 5: dating app, no question about it. And the previous couple 519 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,560 Speaker 5: that I've had before that again varying degrees of success. 520 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:31,719 Speaker 5: Obviously I'm not with them anymore, but some of them 521 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:34,600 Speaker 5: were fine relationships I met through those apps as well, 522 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,160 Speaker 5: So I'm very much part of that demographic. 523 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:44,800 Speaker 4: And obviously, folks, when we are saying something is normalized, 524 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:49,400 Speaker 4: we do not mean it is above criticism. This new 525 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 4: genre of romance has garnered tons of controversy, plenty of complaints, 526 00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 4: a couple of heinous crimes, and countless broken hearts along 527 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:05,160 Speaker 4: the way. But the deal is, the need is too great. 528 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:09,240 Speaker 4: Some people would pay anything for the promise of true 529 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,840 Speaker 4: love and the money, oh, the money, you guys. The 530 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 4: profit potential that is likewise too great for the companies 531 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 4: to ignore. Every dating app is swiping right on profit potential. 532 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:28,959 Speaker 4: Morgan Stanley found dating app users who go to what 533 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:33,960 Speaker 4: you're saying, no, they cross the rubicon of freemium to pay. 534 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:38,880 Speaker 4: They end up spending between eighteen and nineteen US dollars 535 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:43,240 Speaker 4: per month on subscriptions or one off purchases. 536 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:48,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, it is very odd to imagine that every one 537 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:51,720 Speaker 2: of these dating sites, dating apps, whatever they are, start 538 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,760 Speaker 2: as free, and especially Tinder if you think about its origins, 539 00:32:56,080 --> 00:33:01,880 Speaker 2: fully free for years until company realized, oh, we actually 540 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 2: need to be profitable. At some point, we're moving out 541 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 2: of a venture capital stage and into the we're going 542 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:10,400 Speaker 2: to go public, so now we need to have a revenue. 543 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:11,800 Speaker 5: Because I know a lot of those things that you 544 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:13,600 Speaker 5: know when they pop like that too, they're just all 545 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,680 Speaker 5: about developing a user base. And they're not always thinking 546 00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:19,600 Speaker 5: about the profit motive up front. We'll get to that, 547 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:21,680 Speaker 5: but first we have to get to a place where 548 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,760 Speaker 5: we have this unimpeachably massive user base. 549 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 4: And this is what we are investigating this evening, folks, 550 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:35,400 Speaker 4: dating as a business romance, as a digital empire. We 551 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 4: kid the not fellow conspiracy realist, there is a conspiracy afoot. 552 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:45,240 Speaker 5: Okay, let's take a quick pause in this chat about 553 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:47,600 Speaker 5: online dating. Here a word from our sponsors, and then 554 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:48,760 Speaker 5: come back with more. 555 00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:58,480 Speaker 3: And we've returned. 556 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 4: Here's where it gets crazy. What are we talking about? 557 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:08,920 Speaker 4: All right, let's just name guys. Let's name every dating 558 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:13,080 Speaker 4: app we know, just so we can all hear how 559 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:17,480 Speaker 4: very they appear to be. Maybe take a deep breath together, 560 00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:19,359 Speaker 4: because I'm sure we got a lot to go through. 561 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:24,120 Speaker 3: Her hymns. 562 00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:32,240 Speaker 2: No, that's that's that's yeah, Ashley mad O, Tender Tinder. 563 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:34,759 Speaker 3: We mentioned a lot of these already, Hinge, Okay, the. 564 00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:41,600 Speaker 4: League Yeah, a's are b LK Hakuna pairs, et cetera, 565 00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:44,360 Speaker 4: et cetera. Which is a thing I made up, but 566 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:47,480 Speaker 4: I think it's a good idea for a very lazy 567 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:51,680 Speaker 4: dating app. Just et cetera, et cetera. What are you into? 568 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:53,040 Speaker 4: What's your profile now? 569 00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:53,359 Speaker 2: No? 570 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 3: Coffee meets Bagel is one that I like the name of. 571 00:34:57,239 --> 00:34:59,200 Speaker 5: And then you have like things like Jday, which has 572 00:34:59,239 --> 00:35:00,919 Speaker 5: been around for a very long time that is again 573 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:03,719 Speaker 5: specifically for you know, people of the Jewish faith. 574 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:05,360 Speaker 3: Mm. Yeah. 575 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:08,800 Speaker 4: And then you have Christian mingle is that one. 576 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:11,040 Speaker 3: Plenty of Fish, which I think is a Christian thing 577 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:14,320 Speaker 3: too because of the fish symbol or is it not? No, 578 00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:15,920 Speaker 3: it's not oka. I always assume that it was. 579 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:18,080 Speaker 4: It's like plenty of fish, yes, but I guess I. 580 00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:20,000 Speaker 3: Always assumed that. I don't know why I thought that 581 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:22,160 Speaker 3: the fish thing just just threw me interesting. 582 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:26,840 Speaker 4: Can you can you date citations of plenty of fish? 583 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:27,640 Speaker 4: That's unfair. 584 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:29,640 Speaker 3: They're mammals, I mean, and it's you know. 585 00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:32,719 Speaker 5: I think the point of this list, including some made 586 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,520 Speaker 5: up ones, are to show just how specialized, uh and 587 00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:42,719 Speaker 5: varied and seemingly completely different the apps in this massive 588 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 5: world that is online dating can be. 589 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 4: Right specialized across any number of variables, some more specialized 590 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:56,279 Speaker 4: than to others, each with their own unique reputation. You 591 00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:59,479 Speaker 4: have a love of your life and mind, you will 592 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:04,479 Speaker 4: find that demographic on insert site here, welcome to et cetera, 593 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:12,120 Speaker 4: et cetera dot org. We're not. Ok yeah, right, well, 594 00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:15,400 Speaker 4: that's why we can't get investors because of the profit. 595 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 4: Most dating apps are ultimately owned by a single company. 596 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:27,880 Speaker 4: That's right, fellow conspiracy realist. There is one dating app 597 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 4: to rule them, moll an Illuminati of online romance, a 598 00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:36,799 Speaker 4: cable of digital dating. Can we get a drum roll? 599 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:38,000 Speaker 4: Tri force. 600 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:45,920 Speaker 5: Match dot Com Incorporate LLC. 601 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,160 Speaker 3: Incredibly Corporation. 602 00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:56,279 Speaker 4: Yes, they're a bill litigious. 603 00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,360 Speaker 2: And when we say most, let's let's give that listens 604 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:02,280 Speaker 2: tender hinge. Okay, but plenty of fish. The League metic 605 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:08,600 Speaker 2: asar or As are Chispa b LK, Hakuna Pears. There's uh, 606 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 2: there's more. Well, no, I think that's it. I was 607 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:13,319 Speaker 2: on their website just a moment ago looking at all 608 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:15,080 Speaker 2: of the the different. 609 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:19,040 Speaker 4: ICI forty five plus. Those are the ones they brag 610 00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:19,719 Speaker 4: about there. 611 00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:22,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, they're they're like topped here, and if you go 612 00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:24,320 Speaker 2: on their website you may think, oh, that's all they've got. 613 00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:25,720 Speaker 3: No no, no, no no no. 614 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:29,840 Speaker 4: No no no no no no. Officially known as Match 615 00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:34,560 Speaker 4: Group Incorporated, this company is based in Dallas, Texas. For 616 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:38,760 Speaker 4: anybody not from the United States, Dallas is a pretty 617 00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:42,319 Speaker 4: big deal here. President got shot there back in the day. 618 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:45,839 Speaker 3: I think I read something about them, Yeah right, we did. 619 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 4: Au We looked into it as the our buddies, Rob 620 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:55,320 Speaker 4: Reiner and Solidad O'Brien. The idea of match dot com 621 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:59,120 Speaker 4: or what becomes match dot com is pretty fascinating. It's 622 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:02,600 Speaker 4: created way back in nineteen ninety three by a guy 623 00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:09,240 Speaker 4: named Gary Craven, Simon Glenski, and pangte Oong in San Francisco. 624 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:13,320 Speaker 4: And at the beginning to the earlier point about classified ads, 625 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,200 Speaker 4: that's all they were trying to do. They were taking 626 00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:21,239 Speaker 4: the personal classified ads to the Internet and they were 627 00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:27,719 Speaker 4: calling it. You love this electric classifieds incorporate breaking to 628 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:29,960 Speaker 4: electric bugaloo. 629 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:35,160 Speaker 2: Oh yeah. And there's a there's one individual dude that 630 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:39,600 Speaker 2: ended up buying up a ton of different domains. They 631 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:44,360 Speaker 2: were like match dot com, super simple URLs that you 632 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,799 Speaker 2: could get to and he didn't have anything on him yet, 633 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 2: but he's one of the you know, there's that time 634 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:51,680 Speaker 2: on the Internet where that was a that was a 635 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:53,120 Speaker 2: viable business plan. 636 00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:55,160 Speaker 4: Just by sting dot com. 637 00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:59,719 Speaker 5: It still is still is, my friends, I mean, I 638 00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:01,719 Speaker 5: think of the show Matt riddle aboutty money. 639 00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:03,160 Speaker 3: That's he does this forget for laughs. 640 00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:08,800 Speaker 5: He bought the URLDJ COVID nineteen just when COVID nineteen 641 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,240 Speaker 5: was kicking. Justis in case they're like, you know, when 642 00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:13,560 Speaker 5: it's like not too soon anymore that somebody comes out 643 00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:15,680 Speaker 5: and wants that artist. There is a story on NPR 644 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,600 Speaker 5: not terribly long ago about a dude who truly made 645 00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:23,040 Speaker 5: good by just buying up combinations of different political figures 646 00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:25,520 Speaker 5: in the hopes or you know, in the case in 647 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:28,560 Speaker 5: the event that they ended up running mates and he 648 00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:32,160 Speaker 5: made good and sold some of those to some serious tickets. 649 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:34,359 Speaker 2: Yeah, And in this case, this person bought a bunch 650 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:36,799 Speaker 2: of these and then put them together, and all of 651 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:41,160 Speaker 2: them had classified ads essentially for different things. Someone were 652 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:46,279 Speaker 2: for autos, for cars, someone were for this type of thing. 653 00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:49,960 Speaker 2: And it is just amazing that somebody had that idea, 654 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 2: created this thing, and then almost immediately it reminded me 655 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:54,960 Speaker 2: a lot of Marshall Brain actually, the founder of houset 656 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:58,400 Speaker 2: works dot com. Where you start this huge thing and 657 00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:02,120 Speaker 2: you have an idea for it, and then as soon 658 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:05,720 Speaker 2: as it starts to blossom, it doesn't get taken away. 659 00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:08,759 Speaker 2: But there are now investors and board members and they 660 00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:11,520 Speaker 2: can make decisions in metastasizes. 661 00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:14,600 Speaker 4: Yeah, would be a way to look at it, an 662 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:18,200 Speaker 4: all priest, dude to Marshall brain, Let's go to David 663 00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:22,359 Speaker 4: Kusher who puts it this way writing for The Atlantic. 664 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:27,080 Speaker 4: We got we've got a great origin story for our 665 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:31,960 Speaker 4: buddy Gary, and it will introduce the director of marketing 666 00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:37,000 Speaker 4: that we were talking about later who really really changes 667 00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:40,000 Speaker 4: the game. This is a field of dreams. If you 668 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:43,439 Speaker 4: build it, they will come kind of moment. This will 669 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:48,080 Speaker 4: also ultimately be familiar to anybody who's tried to throw 670 00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:50,719 Speaker 4: a house party and get their ratio right. 671 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,560 Speaker 2: Okay, and here is that quote about Gary kremin and 672 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:59,719 Speaker 2: again is from the Atlantic, David Kusher quote. There was 673 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,799 Speaker 2: a no four letter word for love he knew, and 674 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:07,840 Speaker 2: it was data, the stuff he would use to match people. 675 00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:14,520 Speaker 2: He could gather data about each client, attributes, assling interests, 676 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:17,960 Speaker 2: desires for mates, and then compare them with other clients 677 00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:21,120 Speaker 2: data to make matches. With a computer and the Internet, 678 00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:24,759 Speaker 2: he could eliminate the inefficiencies of thousands of years of 679 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:29,680 Speaker 2: analog dating, the shyness, the mist cues, the posturing. He 680 00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:34,000 Speaker 2: would provide customers with a questionnaire, generate a series of answers, 681 00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:37,040 Speaker 2: and then pair up daters based on how well their 682 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:38,240 Speaker 2: preferences aligned. 683 00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:43,400 Speaker 4: It's perfect perfect, It's a littleical. I don't know. I 684 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,439 Speaker 4: you know there there might be a diminishing return at 685 00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:53,520 Speaker 4: sub point, Like we've all been in situations where someone 686 00:41:54,360 --> 00:42:00,480 Speaker 4: feels like they're predeciding and interaction, you know what I mean. 687 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:03,840 Speaker 4: Have you guys ever had that moment where you're dating 688 00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:07,839 Speaker 4: someone and I'll be a little personal here, and in 689 00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:11,120 Speaker 4: the first or second date they described to you the 690 00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:12,520 Speaker 4: marriage you're going to have. 691 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:20,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe you know what not yet, Yeah, you got better. 692 00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:21,880 Speaker 3: You got better luck in love than me and. 693 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:25,680 Speaker 4: Mad Hey guys, spoiler didn't work out. 694 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:31,759 Speaker 2: Oh dang, come on man, Well, I want to talk 695 00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:35,560 Speaker 2: about a personal thing towards the conclusions of these episodes 696 00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:38,360 Speaker 2: or this episode. But uh, it was something an insight 697 00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:42,080 Speaker 2: that I've discovered through learning about all this stuff. But 698 00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:45,520 Speaker 2: I do not I do not have that experience. I 699 00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:48,680 Speaker 2: do think this is one of those beautiful dreams. Right, 700 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:53,720 Speaker 2: you see a problem I can imagine in this person's world, 701 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:56,880 Speaker 2: Gary's world, and then you can see, well, I know 702 00:42:57,000 --> 00:42:59,920 Speaker 2: how to do X, Y and Z. Maybe if I 703 00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:03,960 Speaker 2: apply that to this big problem, I can save the world. 704 00:43:04,719 --> 00:43:08,080 Speaker 4: Maybe by Excel spreadsheet was the answer all along. 705 00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:09,879 Speaker 5: And the thing is I mean, and you know, again 706 00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:12,319 Speaker 5: I mentioned earlier the idea of like you know, there's 707 00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:16,560 Speaker 5: no magic bullets to finding love, but the closest thing 708 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:19,640 Speaker 5: that you can sell as that is something like this. 709 00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:22,520 Speaker 3: And the reason that people are buying it is because 710 00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:26,640 Speaker 3: it does have a relative success rate to some degree. 711 00:43:26,719 --> 00:43:30,160 Speaker 5: Remember the you remember those E Harmony of course, the 712 00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:34,360 Speaker 5: real testimonials, right sure, the guy. 713 00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:36,680 Speaker 2: That would come on, I can hear his voice, I 714 00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:38,799 Speaker 2: can't see his face right now in this moment, but 715 00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:44,520 Speaker 2: the guy who would say compatibility compatiity, not compatibility. Compatibility 716 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:47,920 Speaker 2: is the number one thing that's gonna find you true love. 717 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:50,279 Speaker 2: And that's why E Harmony. 718 00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:53,480 Speaker 3: Only we can sust that out for you with all 719 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:53,960 Speaker 3: of the day. 720 00:43:54,120 --> 00:44:01,560 Speaker 4: Also, also let us let us admire from the from 721 00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:07,560 Speaker 4: the higher elevation. Let us admire the absolute aspiration of this, 722 00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:13,560 Speaker 4: the idea that you could one could quantify the unquantifiable 723 00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:17,680 Speaker 4: things like love for anybody. Right now, if you are 724 00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:20,560 Speaker 4: listening to this show and you are head over heels 725 00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:25,040 Speaker 4: in love, and that love is reciprocated. You can't really 726 00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:27,760 Speaker 4: put numbers on it. Come on, man, that's a different 727 00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:30,960 Speaker 4: part of the brain. So there is this idea. It's 728 00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:35,239 Speaker 4: again like the like the concept of how science answers 729 00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:40,799 Speaker 4: how and spirituality answers why. Love is a ven diagram 730 00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:43,520 Speaker 4: between those two things. So is it not a bit 731 00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:48,239 Speaker 4: cold to say if you answered X to the following 732 00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:51,799 Speaker 4: Z questions, then we are why compatible? 733 00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:53,319 Speaker 3: Sure? Touch, Sure. 734 00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:55,520 Speaker 5: But also it's like if you think about people kind 735 00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:59,359 Speaker 5: of romanticizing the idea of like finding your soulmates. If 736 00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:02,440 Speaker 5: you think about logistically, which is the absolute you know, 737 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:06,239 Speaker 5: massive amount of possible soulmates that are out there, what 738 00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:09,920 Speaker 5: are the chances that you found the one best person 739 00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:12,879 Speaker 5: for you? Yes, they might be great, You guys might 740 00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:16,600 Speaker 5: be completely compatible. But what systems like this do is 741 00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:19,680 Speaker 5: widen that net in a way where maybe I could 742 00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:22,200 Speaker 5: actually find that person statistically. 743 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:25,800 Speaker 4: But I would say also to take it a step 744 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:31,200 Speaker 4: three steps further. First, that reduces people to quantifiable aspects, 745 00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:35,360 Speaker 4: which is an unholy thing to attempt. Second, uh, the 746 00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:40,440 Speaker 4: idea of a soulmate naturally includes the concept of people 747 00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:44,560 Speaker 4: who were born and died before you were here and 748 00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:49,000 Speaker 4: are going to be alive and die after you have passed, 749 00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:53,640 Speaker 4: such that you know, cloud Atlas becomes an awesome job. 750 00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:55,680 Speaker 4: People believe in reading. 751 00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:57,560 Speaker 5: But that's because if you think about it, though, I mean, 752 00:45:57,560 --> 00:45:59,440 Speaker 5: I understand what you're saying, Ben, But the idea of 753 00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:04,239 Speaker 5: a soulmate is about compatibility, is about a match of 754 00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:08,680 Speaker 5: various characteristics. The question is to what percentage, to what 755 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:12,080 Speaker 5: degree are you nailing those matches? And is there a 756 00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:14,960 Speaker 5: better version out there you know of the one that 757 00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:15,840 Speaker 5: you've already found. 758 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:19,920 Speaker 4: Right, that's the third point, the idea to keep people 759 00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:27,239 Speaker 4: eternally chasing the better possibility. When human beings were largely 760 00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,520 Speaker 4: living and dying within about thirty miles of where they 761 00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:36,160 Speaker 4: were born, their choices were limited, right, as were their resources. 762 00:46:36,640 --> 00:46:42,280 Speaker 4: Your questionnaire became something like, can you create children? Can 763 00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:46,920 Speaker 4: we have child labor on the farm? Do you agree 764 00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:53,319 Speaker 4: with my idea about God? Because I certainly cannot disagree 765 00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:57,120 Speaker 4: with it, So we cannot have a discourse about this. 766 00:46:57,120 --> 00:47:00,680 Speaker 4: This is what our buddy Gary's dealing with. He starts 767 00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:03,960 Speaker 4: off the same way we are. He's beginning from his 768 00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:09,960 Speaker 4: own lived experiences, his own preferences, and he builds his questionnaire. 769 00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:15,520 Speaker 4: He tries to sum the human heart up in a spreadsheet, 770 00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:21,279 Speaker 4: right in quantifiable terms, and he realizes all of a sudden, hey, 771 00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:25,080 Speaker 4: I'm not the golden goose. And then thank god he 772 00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:29,960 Speaker 4: doesn't have an ego, because he says, wait, no dudes, 773 00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:33,960 Speaker 4: no straight dudes here are going to be the golden goose. 774 00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:37,920 Speaker 4: I can get guys to pay for this service, this 775 00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:42,560 Speaker 4: online dating thing, but my real goal is going to 776 00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:47,440 Speaker 4: have is going to be to get women there somehow. Otherwise, 777 00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:51,480 Speaker 4: why will these straight dudes bother paying for this in 778 00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:54,759 Speaker 4: the first place? And we have to remember context. It's 779 00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:58,920 Speaker 4: the mid nineteen nineties. People who identify as women are 780 00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:04,320 Speaker 4: about ten percent of the folks online. The typical computer 781 00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:10,000 Speaker 4: user is one male, two unmarried three at a computer 782 00:48:10,320 --> 00:48:12,680 Speaker 4: for hours on end every week. 783 00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:17,240 Speaker 2: Well, yeah, imagine the as we're talking about the history 784 00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:22,279 Speaker 2: of I don't know, companionship or whatever this stuff is, 785 00:48:22,600 --> 00:48:28,360 Speaker 2: the amount of unwanted male attention man woman experiences and 786 00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:32,640 Speaker 2: then asking them to go on and sign up and 787 00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:35,399 Speaker 2: put all this information about yourself so that you can 788 00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:37,960 Speaker 2: get a crap ton of male attention. 789 00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:41,319 Speaker 4: Right, which still continues to do there. 790 00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:43,560 Speaker 5: But there is a feature built into this that makes 791 00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:45,520 Speaker 5: it appealing, which is the idea that you're not going 792 00:48:45,520 --> 00:48:47,520 Speaker 5: I mean, I forget again. Some of these apps are different, 793 00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:49,279 Speaker 5: but there are certain ones where you're not going to 794 00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:53,640 Speaker 5: open up a chat unless the woman consents, which. 795 00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:54,360 Speaker 4: Yeah, but Gary has that. 796 00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:56,919 Speaker 5: I'm just saying, and I understand what I'm just saying, 797 00:48:56,960 --> 00:48:59,160 Speaker 5: Like there is a version that we're going to get 798 00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:02,680 Speaker 5: to that does benefit women, but even that then kind 799 00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:06,120 Speaker 5: of gets bastardized and becomes its own sort of monstrosity. 800 00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:08,880 Speaker 3: So sorry to jump ahead too much, but yeah, where's 801 00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:09,680 Speaker 3: Gary going with this? 802 00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:13,640 Speaker 2: But also in the mid nineteen nineties, most of us 803 00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:17,160 Speaker 2: were just playing Ultima online and on Aim pretending to 804 00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:18,560 Speaker 2: be we're twenty Oh yeah them. 805 00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,960 Speaker 5: Yeah, sorry, it's hilarious, dude, I love it. 806 00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:26,040 Speaker 4: I mean, and that's a that's a big part of it, 807 00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:32,480 Speaker 4: because people are just like Gary, basing the world on themselves. Right, 808 00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:36,920 Speaker 4: this is me, so this must be logically everybody. Gary 809 00:49:37,080 --> 00:49:39,680 Speaker 4: is doing a really smart thing. And he says, look, 810 00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:42,440 Speaker 4: I gotta go figure out people who are not me. 811 00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:46,600 Speaker 4: I gotta if we want women on my weird thing 812 00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:49,799 Speaker 4: then and he didn't call this weird thing, then I 813 00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:52,920 Speaker 4: have to talk to actual women. I have to figure 814 00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:56,880 Speaker 4: out what people's worlds who are not like me, like, 815 00:49:56,960 --> 00:49:59,560 Speaker 4: what's going on with them? What do they care about? 816 00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:03,319 Speaker 4: And when he had these conversations, the lore of the 817 00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:06,680 Speaker 4: story goes that he talked to all of his female 818 00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:12,239 Speaker 4: relationships or familial members. He talked to people he just 819 00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:17,239 Speaker 4: found on the street, his friends, and they said, your 820 00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:21,719 Speaker 4: questionnaire needs a lot of work, because your questionnaire is 821 00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:25,520 Speaker 4: about you, and they said in particular, I think it 822 00:50:25,640 --> 00:50:32,560 Speaker 4: was a big cold shower for him when unanimously women said, hey, Bud, 823 00:50:32,920 --> 00:50:36,840 Speaker 4: your explicit sexual questions are kind of a non starter. 824 00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:39,799 Speaker 4: That's a turn off. And then they hit him with 825 00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:43,799 Speaker 4: another one and they said, why on earth would I 826 00:50:43,920 --> 00:50:48,280 Speaker 4: want random guys to your earlier point, Matt? Why would 827 00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:51,360 Speaker 4: I want random guys to see my real name and 828 00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:55,759 Speaker 4: my photo online? Because that would mean they could find me. 829 00:50:57,239 --> 00:51:01,560 Speaker 2: I was listening to that podcast it look Deep into 830 00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:04,040 Speaker 2: this Land of the Giants. It was like season six 831 00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:05,560 Speaker 2: or seven, I think maybe. 832 00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:07,040 Speaker 4: Episode two Dating Games. 833 00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:11,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, the entire series it's all about dating apps 834 00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:16,799 Speaker 2: and they go into in depth. There a bunch of 835 00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:19,480 Speaker 2: the stuff that was online that people were doing who 836 00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:22,040 Speaker 2: were actually developing these things, but hot or not do 837 00:51:22,040 --> 00:51:25,000 Speaker 2: you guys remember that that was a big one of 838 00:51:25,080 --> 00:51:27,800 Speaker 2: the big pushes there trying to figure out why would 839 00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:32,640 Speaker 2: to this specific problem, Why would a woman or a 840 00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:36,120 Speaker 2: female put a picture of themselves online for it to 841 00:51:36,160 --> 00:51:38,160 Speaker 2: be judged essentially by other people? 842 00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:40,560 Speaker 5: Was it hot or not like the early Facebook model, 843 00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:43,160 Speaker 5: or is it that or is it something like. 844 00:51:43,160 --> 00:51:44,880 Speaker 2: Things like that. That wasn't the only one, but that 845 00:51:44,920 --> 00:51:46,840 Speaker 2: was the big one where it was like, how do 846 00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:49,000 Speaker 2: you what is the thing that causes someone to put 847 00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:51,799 Speaker 2: their picture on there for it to be judged to 848 00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:55,760 Speaker 2: see if people like me? Essentially? Right? That the primary motivation? 849 00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:57,520 Speaker 3: Why would you open yourself up to ridicule? 850 00:51:57,560 --> 00:51:59,200 Speaker 5: Why would you open yourself up to that kind of 851 00:51:59,280 --> 00:52:01,080 Speaker 5: judgment and or harassment? 852 00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:04,920 Speaker 2: Ginger Well, yeah, exactly, But what is that thing that spark? 853 00:52:05,160 --> 00:52:07,920 Speaker 2: And trying to capture what that is and then somehow 854 00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:10,560 Speaker 2: incorporate it into this thing he's building. 855 00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:13,920 Speaker 3: And incorporate a sense of safety, incorporate a sense. 856 00:52:13,760 --> 00:52:16,560 Speaker 5: Of like, yeah, exactly, what's what's the buy in for 857 00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:19,359 Speaker 5: someone to be willing to give this kind of information up? 858 00:52:19,360 --> 00:52:22,680 Speaker 2: I I don't mean to say that there's negative motivation 859 00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:25,280 Speaker 2: for any of these things that are being created especially 860 00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:27,680 Speaker 2: at this time with Gary. It's it is that thing 861 00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:30,040 Speaker 2: of how do I get people to use this thing? 862 00:52:30,480 --> 00:52:30,680 Speaker 3: Right? 863 00:52:30,920 --> 00:52:35,160 Speaker 4: It's Field the dreams, Right, it's Field the Dreams. He's 864 00:52:35,200 --> 00:52:39,480 Speaker 4: a Kevin Costner, you know, is or whomever Kevin Costner 865 00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:42,040 Speaker 4: was acting as in that He's like, how do I 866 00:52:42,160 --> 00:52:45,640 Speaker 4: get these people to show up to the ballgame. Eventually 867 00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:50,480 Speaker 4: he understands the best way to find out what women 868 00:52:50,880 --> 00:52:56,120 Speaker 4: really want the age old quest. He needs get this 869 00:52:56,200 --> 00:52:58,840 Speaker 4: you guys, real life women on the team. So he 870 00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:03,120 Speaker 4: contacts his former classmate fran Meyer from his time at 871 00:53:03,200 --> 00:53:07,400 Speaker 4: Stanford and he hires her as the director of marketing, 872 00:53:07,600 --> 00:53:12,480 Speaker 4: and to her credit, she immediately clocks a secondary issue 873 00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:16,279 Speaker 4: and she says, Gary, women aren't going to join up 874 00:53:16,320 --> 00:53:21,000 Speaker 4: for your internet thing unless they know there are already 875 00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:27,920 Speaker 4: other women in the sandbox, unless they're already participating. Hold 876 00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:32,440 Speaker 4: the phone, folks, amid all this discourse ed exploration of 877 00:53:32,719 --> 00:53:36,879 Speaker 4: monopolization and conspiracy, we hope that you will swipe right 878 00:53:37,239 --> 00:53:40,840 Speaker 4: on part two of the Illuminati of Online Dating. We 879 00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:43,359 Speaker 4: can't wait to hear your thoughts. Join us later this 880 00:53:43,440 --> 00:53:46,839 Speaker 4: week for wait did I say Part two? We'll keep 881 00:53:46,880 --> 00:53:50,720 Speaker 4: it in We've got a two part episode. We want 882 00:53:50,760 --> 00:53:54,040 Speaker 4: to hang out with you. Please let us know what's 883 00:53:54,080 --> 00:53:57,080 Speaker 4: on your mind. We try to be easy to find online. 884 00:53:57,320 --> 00:53:57,680 Speaker 3: That's right. 885 00:53:57,719 --> 00:53:59,600 Speaker 5: You can find us in the handle Conspiracy Stuff where 886 00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:02,160 Speaker 5: we exist on Facebook with our Facebook group Here's where 887 00:54:02,160 --> 00:54:06,080 Speaker 5: it gets crazy, on x FKA, Twitter, and on YouTube. 888 00:54:06,360 --> 00:54:08,280 Speaker 5: You can also find us at the handle conspiracy Stuff 889 00:54:08,280 --> 00:54:09,480 Speaker 5: on Instagram and TikTok. 890 00:54:09,760 --> 00:54:12,359 Speaker 2: We've got a phone number. It's one eight three three 891 00:54:12,680 --> 00:54:17,680 Speaker 2: std WYTK. When you call in and say something like that, 892 00:54:17,719 --> 00:54:21,480 Speaker 2: E harmony guy was Neil Clark Warren, Doctor Neil Clark Warren, 893 00:54:21,520 --> 00:54:25,439 Speaker 2: the American clinical psychologist and Christian theologian that was coming 894 00:54:25,480 --> 00:54:29,120 Speaker 2: on TV and said, E harmony. You could say things 895 00:54:29,160 --> 00:54:31,200 Speaker 2: like that, or just give us a little insight into 896 00:54:31,239 --> 00:54:34,239 Speaker 2: your world, or is something we missed anything? Give us 897 00:54:34,280 --> 00:54:37,120 Speaker 2: a call, give yourself a cool nickname, and you've got 898 00:54:37,120 --> 00:54:39,560 Speaker 2: three minutes say whatever you'd like. If you got more 899 00:54:39,600 --> 00:54:41,840 Speaker 2: to say than could fit into a three minute voicemail, 900 00:54:41,880 --> 00:54:44,160 Speaker 2: why not instead send us a good old fashioned email. 901 00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:48,440 Speaker 4: We are the entities that read every piece of correspondence 902 00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:52,040 Speaker 4: we receive. It's one of the best ways to contact us. 903 00:54:52,080 --> 00:54:55,280 Speaker 4: Everything you heard before the end applies to our email 904 00:54:55,320 --> 00:54:59,000 Speaker 4: address as well. Be well aware, yet unafraid. Sometimes the 905 00:54:59,080 --> 00:55:02,040 Speaker 4: void writes back, and it could be any of us 906 00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:04,920 Speaker 4: that you're hearing this evening. Join us out here in 907 00:55:04,960 --> 00:55:27,480 Speaker 4: the dark conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com. 908 00:55:27,600 --> 00:55:29,640 Speaker 2: Stuff they Don't want you to Know is a production 909 00:55:29,760 --> 00:55:34,279 Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 910 00:55:34,400 --> 00:55:37,600 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.