“To date, there is no compelling evidence that any online dating matching algorithm actually works,” Finkel observes. “If dating sites want to claim that their matching algorithm is scientifically valid, they need to adhere to the standards of science, which is something they have uniformly failed to do. In fact, our report concludes that it is unlikely that their algorithms can work, even in principle, given the limitations of the sorts of matching procedures that these sites use.”
I don’t know if any of the dating sites they reviewed use a similar system to OkCupid (users answer questions and also pick how they want matches to answer those questions and how important they are to them,) but I don’t think OkCupid was included in that study. The author wrote that the matching algorithms of the companies they reviewed are proprietary, and were not shared with the researchers, but OkCupid’s matching algorithm is publicly available.
Perhaps by “work” they meant “do better than letting people choose solely based on reading a short essay and seeing a picture,” although that sounds difficult to make precise. Maybe just “do better than random.” We might have to wait until they publish.
Again, it’s the “even in principle” I was objecting to. Picking people at random can in principle do better than letting people choose solely based on reading a short essay and seeing a picture. And uniformly random algorithm A can in principle do better than uniformly random algorithm B.
Saying something isn’t possible “even in principle” specifically means that it cannot happen in any logically possible world—that’s the entire difference between saying “even in principle” and leaving it out. It can’t even accidentally win.
Contrary evidence:
I don’t know if any of the dating sites they reviewed use a similar system to OkCupid (users answer questions and also pick how they want matches to answer those questions and how important they are to them,) but I don’t think OkCupid was included in that study. The author wrote that the matching algorithms of the companies they reviewed are proprietary, and were not shared with the researchers, but OkCupid’s matching algorithm is publicly available.
That’s a rather strong claim. Matching people up completely at random can work in principle.
Perhaps by “work” they meant “do better than letting people choose solely based on reading a short essay and seeing a picture,” although that sounds difficult to make precise. Maybe just “do better than random.” We might have to wait until they publish.
Again, it’s the “even in principle” I was objecting to. Picking people at random can in principle do better than letting people choose solely based on reading a short essay and seeing a picture. And uniformly random algorithm A can in principle do better than uniformly random algorithm B.
Saying something isn’t possible “even in principle” specifically means that it cannot happen in any logically possible world—that’s the entire difference between saying “even in principle” and leaving it out. It can’t even accidentally win.