Online Dating
With the “all-natural new-age herbal remedy” niche has already well-commercialized, what territory shall the ambitious huckster stake? Fortunately, the brash misapplication of science spews an unending stream of hopefully salable magic.
Now, two new online dating services promise to find your “scientific match” by testing your DNA.
[note: manually enter links; I will not promote dubious sites with html links which are rewarded by search engines and referral traffic]
The least dishonest (and most expensive) is Scientific Match [scientificmatch.com]. For a mere $1,995.95 and cells scraped out of your cheek, you too can be “physically chemically” matched to your magic sweetheart… that is, if you’re not a felon. Scientific Match is quite adamant about this in their terms and conditions. By comparison, a 23andMe genomic test is $1000, a test which is by all indications is a vastly more comprehensive and scientifically-reputable test. (Scientific Match does not explicitly state for which genes they test and how they interpret results.)
So what exactly does Scientific Match test? From http://www.scientificmatch.com/html/about_physical_chemistry_defined.php :
Physical chemistry is based on the immune system. When we analyze your DNA, we look exclusively at your immune system genes. So, quite literally, when we say that two people have “chemistry”, we’re saying that their immune system genes are perfectly matched with each other.
By perfectly matched, we mean different. After we analyze your DNA, we match you with other people who have different immune system genes from yourself.
So, encouraged by one weak study about girls smelling sweaty tshirts, they test a few random genes associated with the major histocompatibility complex, match people different test results, and then throw all that crap out and match people willing to pay $2000 for a dating service “based on science.”
Just to be clear, we don’t know of any scientific evidence suggesting that our technology will predict who you’ll fall in love with or even be emotionally attracted to. But the experts clearly see incredible potential in the power of chemical attraction.
…
As long as you’re matched with the right person, and you’ve got chemistry, then it doesn’t matter if it’s via your sense of smell or some (possibly other) chemical sensing system. The fact is, chemistry–and its effects–is real. The specific communication process, though, has yet to be definitively proven
Oh right! Just redefine “chemistry” to mean “anything” and “then it doesn’t matter!” Yet, what has been proven is that if you’re willing to spend $2000 on a dating service, you’re probably willing (and desperate enough) to believe that it works. Therefore, it probably will.
The Scientific Match’s competitor is the shabbier and cheaper Gene Partner [genepartner.com]. Gene Partner is like Scientific Match except that it costs a mere $200, its website sucks, and it’s “in collaboration” with the “Swiss Institute for Behavioral Genetics”. Hilariously, from the “Swiss Institute’s” website [sibeg.org]:
SIBeG is affiliated to GenePartner GmbH (Switzerland) which reserves the right to patent any profitable findings prior to publication.
Surprisingly, SIBeG has yet to publish any research. Hm…
The science may be bunk, but do these services work? Popular online dating review forums make no mention of these services. My suspicion is that because the expenses of running a website and outsourcing simple genetic tests to labs are negligible, and thanks to the generous media blitz by the gullible prole American media, both sites will continue to scratch out a small profit on the internet until their founders get bored. Thus, gullible singles will continued to be matched with about the same rate of success as sites with comparable service fees and web interfaces for the next ten years or less. Hooray for the miracles of genomic science.
Note: the New York Times also mentions the “sweaty tshirt and dating” study. Ok, I admit, it’s a facinating subject, but sorry, the science doesn’t exist yet.
Think Gene at Technorati
Add New Comment
Viewing 4 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks