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Singapore govt dating app uses Gale-Shapley stable marriage algorithm

466 points · 499 comments · rzk

  1. purplepatrick · · focus · HN ↗
    Cute. Of course, beyond basic deal breakers, neither do people know their preferences (but they think they do), nor do the majority of preference categories actually matter.

    This is a common problem with all dating apps. Specifically, interests, hobbies, daily routines, objectives, etc. have nothing to do with compatibility.

    “We like the same things!” is the compatibility signal of a naive 22-yr old…

    1. alexey-salmin · · focus · HN ↗
      > “We like the same things!” is the compatibility signal of a naive 22-yr old…

      What signals do you suggest? Regardless of whether it's feasible to put them in the dating app.

      1. morkalork · · focus · HN ↗
        The OkCupid guys figured out that it was (potential) that best predicted stable relationships and everything else was just a proxy for that feature. Similar/compatible education level? Just a proxy for income. Similar/compatible hobbies? Guess what, also a proxy for income!
        1. aleph_minus_one · · focus · HN ↗
          > Similar/compatible education level? Just a proxy for income.

          This clearly does not hold in Germany. There, you often can earn much more money with a vocational training than with a humanities degree, in particular in the current messed up job market.

          On the other hand, people with different education levels often have very different psychometric traits (similarity here is very important for the relationship to work).

          > Similar/compatible hobbies? Guess what, also a proxy for income!

          There do exist some hobbies that are somewhat correlated to social classes (think of who plays soccer/tennis/golf (replace "soccer" by a different sport if you live in the USA)), even though these associations are much less pronounced than in former days.

          On the other hand, for example, a person who loves sports climbing or parachuting will likely have very different psychometric traits from people who are into stamp collecting.

          Thus, in many cases, hobbies are thus rather a proxy for some psychometric traits.

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