Imagine a magic pill that blocks areas of the brain that attract you to guys who are total jerks or girls who lead you on.
In the future, that pill could be available. At least that’s one prediction from Amy Laurent, a matchmaker and Bravo TV star. She’s one of many who answered CNNMoney’s question, “What will love look like in the future?”
Matchmaker Amy Andersen also weighed in. Though she’s been connecting people for a decade, she said in the future her role could be extinct.
“I’ll just be a program you can download,” she said.
She imagines that 100 years from now, “people will be able to come in and basically pre-program what they’re looking for. We’ll be able to create this cyborg person who is half robot and half human.”
Possible? Maybe. Some computer scientists have floated the idea of love with robots, and there are companies working to make sex dolls as lifelike and customizable as possible.
Jodi Forlizzi, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, said it’s impossible to predict whether or not people will be romancing R2-D2 in a century, but she stopped short of dismissing it altogether.
“People already talk about loving their iPhones,” she said. “It seems like it could be part of the trajectory in 50 or 100 years.”
Still, she said, “I hope we keep the human at the heart of the interaction.” She envisions robots helping humans perform tasks (especially boring ones), driving cars and running households — not necessarily being the objects of our affection.
Andersen’s own prediction came with a warning: People, even her clients, don’t always know what kind of match is best for them, and trying to program that could lead to disaster.
“They are looking for something that doesn’t exist,” she said.
One thing that has frustrated anyone who’s ever been set up on a blind date is that it’s impossible to account for chemistry.
Maybe that will change. Amber Kelleher-Andrews, CEO of matchmaking firm Kelleher International, envisions a future where people meet online and place a hand on the screen to “test whether or not you and your prospective date have chemistry.”
Laurent agrees. She said not only could her magic pill be a reality, but blood tests could suggest biological compatibility.
That’s not far off. Companies like Instant Chemistry are already working on that (though it analyzes DNA using your saliva, not your blood.)
Laurent envisions herself being part of that future. “I can see throwing a mixer for this or that blood type.”
Matchmaker Amy Van Doran said making connections among small groups is key for the future. Today, she said, options for online daters come with a certain amount of fatigue, and the constant barrage of people becomes impossible to manage.
“They’re trained to be looking for the next thing,” she said. “What they need is not more options.”
There’s some scientific proof to back that up.
A 2012 study found that an abundance of online profiles to choose from makes people judgmental and reduce “three-dimensional people to two-dimensional displays of information.”
Van Doran says her method, which involves curated dates for her clients, is a more effective way to find love, both now and for years to come.
“You don’t know what the love of your life will look like,” said Van Doran.
And even if someone thinks they do? “My printer doesn’t print men,” she said.
Maybe in the future, it will.
