By The Numbers 

T.K. McNeil 

It can be difficult to find love. Outside the animal kingdom and cultures with arranged marriages, locating a life partner can be a labour of Herculean proportions, never mind actually trying to woo said match. Modernity is so rife with protocols, neuroses and pitfalls it is almost a wonder the species didn't die out years ago. We are still truckin' along but barely. There is hope however. The saints and geniuses that make up the tech. industry (sometimes out of whole cloth) have found a way to make even the often arduous process of courtship and seduction all the easier, calculating romance down to a science. 

As hard as it is to believe, there are still people who futility  resist the paradigm changing juggernaut that is online dating. No matter who you are or what your particular proclivities there is a dating site or app just for you. Sure, some of them are of the Dark Web but what is a bit of semi-illegal programming when it comes to true love and fining one's soulmate. We all have our needs and all that really matters is that we get what we want, right? There are some so-called "reasonable people" who would call this attitude "selfish" or even "predatory" but they don't understand that humans are inherently selfish and evil. Just ask Richard Dawkins. 

Truly the greatest invention of the 21st century and in no way just digital versions of the sort of Lonely Hearts ads. that have been running in newspapers since a least the 19th century, dating apps have taken all the guess work out of the human mating ritual. You just sign up, find someone attractive (pro tip, almost no one actually reads the profiles) message a bit and set a date. If you like each other stay together, maybe even move in together and have sex (the ultimate goal of the entire endeavour) until someone better comes along. If you don't go your separate ways, no harm no foul. 

As usual with brilliant, time-saving, possibly species conserving innovations there those who have a problem with the very notion of online dating. Negative nellies who want everything done the hard way who protest that there should be more to relationships than just sex, or that the patented "eyeball test", by which the profile picture is used as a primary determination as to whether it is worth messaging someone, is "superficial" and even "demeaning." If there is a more heartfelt element, that the Internet is no place for human emotions to cultivate. That people aren't math equations and cannot be reduced to algorithms. Sure, we could try simply talking to people who are around us in real life and real time, get to know each other through common interests and let relationships develop "organically" like in the dark, ignorant days of our parents and grandparents but who has the time for that? Particularly when there is a fast, cheap and easy way to gain short term gratification.