I was going to respond to an anti Airbnb/Uber/Lyft rant by Morazov, but other things got in the way. Apparently, some guy has done the same thing against Tinder on Vanity Fair.
Farhad: I’ve got to say, though: Tinder had a point about the Vanity Fair story. Not only did it adopt a tone of high moral panic about dating apps — it compared their effects to the melting of the polar ice caps and the “Sixth Extinction” — but as New York Magazine’s Jesse Singal pointed out, the article was even factually suspect. Sociological research suggests that millennials like yourself appear to have fewer sexual partners than previous generations. (Sorry!) If it’s really the case that Tinder and other apps are killing true love in favor of one-night stands, there’s little evidence for it.
Mike: How does one even kill true love, anyway? It’s this presupposition that a potential increase in sex — or a short-term relationship based on sex — precludes the idea of finding “love” sooner or later, which I think is bogus.
Also, talking about sex with you is about as pleasant as getting the birds and bees talk from my dad. But I have a way to make this technological. Hear me out.
Tinder is, in some ways, simply another marketplace facilitated by the Internet, just as we’ve had the eBays, Craigslists and Airbnbs of the world. Take the moralizing stance out of an increase in matches and think about it: The Internet eases the connectivity of supply (the undersexed) to demand (the sex-seeking). That’s a good thing, no?
What is wrong with making it easier for willing buyers and sellers getting together over ICT platforms?
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