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Comment by bawolff | Hacker News Reader

Equal parts fascinating and dystopian.

I'm even more convinced now that online dating has reached a local optima, but eventually someone is going to find a solution that is less shallow and predatory and blow it out of the water.

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I’m more cynical. Dating apps are easy, and entertaining. Finding a good person to spend your life (or a prolonged period) with is hard. I’m not sure there is an external solution to this in the world we live in - it’s like getting fit. People need to suck it up and put in the work if they want results.

My understanding is that dating apps just let you meet people. What you do after that and how much effort you put in is up to you.

Picking that example when we're entering into the ozempic era is brave

Hahaha I did think of that. Unfortunately as much as it helps, it won’t give you gains.

I think they’re pretty close to global max on “relationship-flavored entertainment app for single adults”

Optima for “stable-relationship-forming app” are yet to be discovered — and also, I think, to really be sought at all

OKCupid was doing pretty well at this until they were acquired.

Yeah I just mentioned this in a different comment. OKC stunned me when it came out because it seemed so interesting and effective. I met my ex-wife on there! Ha.

Living by yourself is becoming increasingly regular and marriage is sharply declining amongst people who didn’t attend college. I don’t think software is gonna fix this.

If anything, usage of dating apps makes it worse, leading to more dependence on apps, as the social technology of couples meeting outside apps decays. Self-reinforcing feedback loop.

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