Thinking about the Girlfriend

Saw her off to the airport this morning. I'm a bit bummed to say the least. Frankly, I really hope that the next time she comes to visit me, it'll be with a moving van. So I miss her. Awful bad.

Anyways, we met online and though it's certainly not by any standard, the most traditional way to meet someone, it's worked very, very well for us.

The Atlantic has its take on online dating here. Granted, this is a bit personal for me but this strikes me as demonstrably false in my situation:

Algorithms are made to restrict the amount of information the user sees—that’s their raison d’être. By drawing on data about the world we live in, they end up reinforcing whatever societal values happen to be dominant, without our even noticing. They are normativity made into code—albeit a code that we barely understand, even as it shapes our lives.

True, true: that is how algorithms indeed behave. And that is in fact what provides their value. The exist to minimize extraneous data and provide absolute probability. And granted, that's probably not the most romantic way to search for a soul mate.

But I'm completely head over heels over this girl. And we couldn't possibly be more different. We defy any sort of coherent match.

Whether it's her penchant for socialism while I mutter angrily about economic freedom or her midwestern flatlander roots versus my hilly! hilly! hilly! Appalacian home city, we differ in every possible way. We agree to disagree about countless significant pillars that are the mainstays in so many successful relationships.

For the love of God, don't get us arguing about music...

But we're crazy about each other.

So while I will agree with the author that algorithms are a flawed way of finding a match, sometimes those flaws are what can work so well. Sometimes, you're presented with the unlikely, the impossible, the 'never gonna work'...

And yet, your heart cries out a joyful "CHIRP!"