In her 2012 book, Addiction by Design, anthropologist Natasha Dow Schüll lays out the different technological mechanisms casinos employ to keep people gambling. From the architecture of buildings and placement of ATMs to the design of casino carpets—all of it exemplifies strategic calculation. As a blurb for a gambling tradeContinue Reading
Love Match “I’m open to playing doubles for life,” says Belinda Huang, a single twentysomething who enjoys the natural way relationships develop on the tennis court. She’s a member of TMAC, a club that hosts tennis matches and off-court social activities. Seeing the same faces week after week allows friendships,Continue Reading
Love is simple, says Reverend Paul Anthony Daniels, because “in its most visceral form,” it boils down to three things: spit, semen, and sweat. Ok, maybe four. Sometimes there is blood. “To share love in that way is so visceral.” I have a confession, I tell Daniels. I have neverContinue Reading
UTA’s Wang notes that while she hasn’t assessed whether scammers are using generative AI to produce romance scam scripts, she is seeing evidence that they are using it to produce content for online dating profiles. “I think it is something that has already happened, unfortunately,” she says. “Scammers right nowContinue Reading
Arison is convinced in-app conversations reveal a more authentic version of users than what’s filled out on any profile, and the next generation of recommendations will be stronger by focusing on that data. “It’s one thing what you say in your profile,” he says. “But, it’s another thing what youContinue Reading
The last phase of the setup involved swiping left and right on stock images of people’s faces until the app, supposedly, figured out what profiles matched my true “#AttractionDNA.” Despite choosing men and women of various racial backgrounds during the swiping, most of the matches Iris connected me with wereContinue Reading
On how dating apps have affected her business: “When dating apps first came into the market, I think a lot of people were asking me, ‘How are you guys going to still be relevant?’ And, of course, truthfully, that’s also a question that we ask ourselves. With dating apps,Continue Reading
Mere moments after his swearing in Monday, President Donald Trump made a proclamation to attendees of his inauguration: “It shall henceforth be the policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.” Trump then signed an executive order disparaging what the White House calledContinue Reading
