Thursday, June 17, 2021

"Matching"

Without conscious intent or explicit planning of anyone in particular, rapidly-evolving technology has turned us into a nation of matchers. Today it is easier than ever before to be on a quest for people like ourselves, for an indistinguishable mate. For the ideal hobby, for the perfect meal and the perfect app to photograph our pets. We match on our own, or, more and more, algorithms guide us. Match.com matches us in love, Spotify and Pandora match our taste in music. Software matches college roommates. Linkedin matches executives and employees. Facebook helps us reconnect with our past - our old neighbors, our old boyfriends - and more generally even brings us to just the right news and advertisements, or at least what we think is just right.

- Tyler Cowen in The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for The American Dream (2017)

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