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The real question would be what can be done to bring dating back offline? At the end of the day, humans act in their best interest within their environment, an

The real question would be what can be done to bring dating back offline? At the end of the day, humans act in their best interest within their environment, and products adapt to the market. We can blame apps or people using them all we want, but this isn't going to change anyone's incentives a whole lot, especially in a world in which it's increasingly harder to connect offline. And even let's say we propose a good solution - which individual or company is it going to be profitable enough for to be worth the work to implement it?

FrenchAmerican 5y ago
"At the end of the day, humans act in their best interest". This point requires a demonstration. In fact, many studies conducted by experimental psychologists have proven this could not be taken for granted. People have many reasons not to act only in their best interest ; altruism is only one of them and much more common that expected. That idea of self-interest is entrenched into the core of the field of micro-economics. From there, it has conquered the minds as a self-evident axiom. It's also a cultural bias: it's widely accepted as true by most Americans - but it is so much not in many other countries.
- Llamamoe 5y ago
  Altruism is an interesting phenomenon, but I'd argue that it's a case of adhering to norms of what is considered good, to gain both admiration/gratitude from others, and the benefit of feeling aligned with the society that exhibits them - and whose adherence to the same norms might well one day benefit the individual as well. In short, altruism is a social contract - by widespread adherence to its norms, people form a very easy to understand from both a sociological and evolutionary perspective safety net, and by helping others, they gain gratitude and social credit(though arguably, that is a vestigial mechanism in the modern, disconnected world) I think the easiest demonstration of altruism not being pure goodwill is invisible disability, or really - anything that's not socially acceptable to struggle with. Humans are extremely quick to judge homeless, heavily depressed, or ADHD people very, very harshly, shaming them for their struggles - trying to force them to adhere to norms of what is considered good - and achieving what amounts to abuse that you'd very quickly realize 90% of people are capable of without batting an eye, rationalizing humiliating you to a point they consider themselves to be agents of kindness in delivering it to you.

FrenchAmerican 5y ago

"At the end of the day, humans act in their best interest". This point requires a demonstration. In fact, many studies conducted by experimental psychologists have proven this could not be taken for granted. People have many reasons not to act only in their best interest ; altruism is only one of them and much more common that expected. That idea of self-interest is entrenched into the core of the field of micro-economics. From there, it has conquered the minds as a self-evident axiom. It's also a cultural bias: it's widely accepted as true by most Americans - but it is so much not in many other countries.

Llamamoe 5y ago
Altruism is an interesting phenomenon, but I'd argue that it's a case of adhering to norms of what is considered good, to gain both admiration/gratitude from others, and the benefit of feeling aligned with the society that exhibits them - and whose adherence to the same norms might well one day benefit the individual as well. In short, altruism is a social contract - by widespread adherence to its norms, people form a very easy to understand from both a sociological and evolutionary perspective safety net, and by helping others, they gain gratitude and social credit(though arguably, that is a vestigial mechanism in the modern, disconnected world) I think the easiest demonstration of altruism not being pure goodwill is invisible disability, or really - anything that's not socially acceptable to struggle with. Humans are extremely quick to judge homeless, heavily depressed, or ADHD people very, very harshly, shaming them for their struggles - trying to force them to adhere to norms of what is considered good - and achieving what amounts to abuse that you'd very quickly realize 90% of people are capable of without batting an eye, rationalizing humiliating you to a point they consider themselves to be agents of kindness in delivering it to you.