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As all ways the ending of a black mirror episode comes with a big twist, this is no other case then with the episode of Hang the DJ. The biggest part of the episode shows us the two main character taking part in an institute where the System has them date multiple partners to find the perfect match. The two fall in love with each other, but the System gives their relationship a quick expiration date and tries to force them with other partners. In the end the two main characters find out something strange is going on with the institute and out of love for each other try to break out. The true end of the episode shows us that this was all a simulation within an dating app, which used the data of the two main characters in real life to simulate 1000 dating scenarios. In 998 of the scenarios the two people defied the system out of love for each other. In real life the two main characters meet each other in a bar for the first time and the app tells them they have a 99,8% perfect match (VanArendonk, 2018).

This episode is an interesting example of how dating apps in the future could use our personal information to match us with a perfect partner. If we should want this is a different discussion, but nonetheless it can be argued that this would disrupt the dating industry. The most popular apps now, such as OkCupid, Tinder, Bumble, don’t try to match a person on collected data but work with a algorithme that is based on a simplistic swipe mechanism. Other companies try to match people based on interests and biological factors, but these companies don’t have the amount of participants or data to efficiently match people and are often very expensive (FT.com, 2018). So can we think of a company that has 200 million users on it’s platform that list themselves as single and has enough of data on it’s users that misuse can influence election outcomes (Graham-Harrison and Cadwalladr, 2018)? Welcome to the age of Facebook Dating!

Facebook Dating is now reality and has started with its prototype in Colombia (The Verge, 2018). The app will use an algorithm that analyses all you friends, likes and a pre-filled-in personality survey to match you up with potential perfect partners, which you can immediately send a message (it will only match you up with friends of your friends, so that you will not awkwardly be matched up with an ex). As well the users are able to use the match function within a specific facebook group or event (to find that long lost perfect festival fling or to see if you are a good match with a colleague student). If the pilot in Colombia goes well it will be available world wide (Matsakis, 2018). In the future facebook could make the app ever more effective by integrating the data collected from its popular daughter company Instagram, So now the questions arises, can Facebook work around all the privacy issues that this will bring and is this going to disrupt the dating industry?

 

References

Ft.com. (2018). Best of Money: single, dating and paying a very high price for it | Financial Times. [online] Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/8f1ea67a-e168-11e5-8d9b-e88a2a889797 [Accessed 15 Oct. 2018].

Graham-Harrison, E. and Cadwalladr, C. (2018). Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election [Accessed 15 Oct. 2018].

Matsakis, L. (2018). Facebook Is Testing Its Dating Service. Here’s How It’s Different From Tinder. [online] WIRED. Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-dating-how-it-works/ [Accessed 13 Oct. 2018].

The Verge. (2018). Facebook Dating launches today with a test in Colombia. [online] Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/20/17871690/facebook-dating-release-colombia-test [Accessed 14 Oct. 2018].

VanArendonk, K. (2018). Let’s Talk About the Ending of Black Mirror’s ‘Hang the DJ’. [online] Vulture. Available at: http://www.vulture.com/2018/01/black-mirror-season-4-episode-4-ending-explained.html [Accessed 13 Oct. 2018].

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As a thought experiment, let’s make a case against the concept of liberal democracy in light of the developments in neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI). Liberal democracy is based on the assumption that the voter knows best, that human emotions can not be manipulated and we should think for ourselves (Harari, 2018). But aren’t these principles in the end conservative ideas?

Firstly, the idea that we make the best decision for ourselves and therefore know what we should vote, is based on the assumption that we are in charge of our own decisions. Nowadays neuroscience teaches us that homo sapiens are just like other animals and that we aren’t in charge at all. Humans can more adequately be described as biological algorithms that are formed over time by nurture and nature (Harari, 2016). By now we have learned that most of our decisions are made unconsciously and are full of biases (Kahneman, 2011). Researchers try to show us how it works, but due to our biases we don’t always believe research results and many are still voting for politicians that completely disregard research (Malone, 2017).

Secondly, liberal democracy states that the ultimate authority lies with the feelings of human beings and that human feelings and human choices are these sacred arena which cannot be hacked and manipulated (Harari, 2018). At the moment, technology companies such as Google and Facebook are hacking into our feelings by teaching their algorithms, through machine learning, what the best ads are to make us buy the products. As well, they show us the exact post that release dopamine in the brain so that we stay addicted to their platforms (Parkin, 2018). Other companies such as consumer insight companies Nielson and Ipsos are investing in neuromarketing tools to further optimize commercials and website flows to manipulate us into positive brand attitudes and to stimulate website conversion rates (Forbes.com, 2018).

Finally, will we always try to decide for ourselves even though that at some point in time an AI will be able to make a better decision for us?  Should manpeoplekind think for ourselves,  if an AI can make decisions that will make people healthier and happier? At some point in the future, we could try to implement more AI in our policy decision making by connecting an AI president to all the public research data. Afterwards, it can come up with policy proposals as output when it is given a minimum amount of desires and demands as input (Davis, 2018).

So can liberal democracy continue if we truly find out that we are unable to make the best decisions for ourselves, if customers keep on being influenced by tech companies and if AI could at some point make better policy decisions than a democratically chosen parliament?

 

References:

Davis, J. (2018). Is There an AI President in Our Future? That Might Be an Upgrade. [online] WIRED. Available at: https://www.wired.com/2017/05/hear-lets-elect-ai-president/ [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

Forbes.com. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesinsights/2015/02/19/how-neuromarketing-and-the-science-of-influence-will-change-marketing/#2377d0c3222chttps://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesinsights/2015/02/19/how-neuromarketing-and-the-science-of-influence-will-change-marketing/#2377d0c3222c [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

Harari, Y. (2018). Yuval Noah Harari: the myth of freedom. [online] the Guardian. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/14/yuval-noah-harari-the-new-threat-to-liberal-democracy [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

Harari, Y. N. (2016). Homo deus: a brief history of tomorrow.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow

Parkin, S. (2018). Has dopamine got us hooked on tech?. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/04/has-dopamine-got-us-hooked-on-tech-facebook-apps-addiction [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

Malone, S. (2017). Respect for science in jeopardy in polarised U.S., Nobel winners say. [online] Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-nobel-prize-usa/respect-for-science-in-jeopardy-in-polarised-u-s-nobel-winners-say-idUKKCN1C81TE [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].