

Why I Will Never Have a Girlfriend - sidwyn
http://en.nothingisreal.com/wiki/Why_I_Will_Never_Have_a_Girlfriend

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soundslikeneon
If this line of reasoning were correct in general, then we would expect to see
an astonishingly low number of people in any kind of relationship. The simple
observation that people all over the world pair up quite readily suggests that
this whole thing is wrong.

In fact, since the author puts the odds of a given mate being in a
relationship at 50% we can conclude that either:

1) The author thinks there is a fundamental difference in the process of
seeking a woman compared to the process of seeking a man;

2) The author thinks that, while his standards are completely rational, the
vast majority of people simply settle for someone convenient;

or 3) the argument itself is self-contradictory.

~~~
sekm
I'd go for number 2. He's looking at it rationally, but our drives don't
really boil down to bits and bytes at the end. And if anything, I think that
self-delusion or vain hope for something better can play a role too.

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swampthing
The conclusion kind of falls apart if you're able to evaluate potential mates
at a rate several orders of magnitudes faster than one per week. For example,
it takes a split second to determine whether or not you're physically
attracted to someone. That alone cuts it down to ~80 weeks to find someone.

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jgn
It might be worth considering that some people just work/study so much that a
normal relationship just isn't going to happen. I imagine grad school and
early startup life is like this, to some extent. Personally, I just don't
balance my life that well; too much time goes into studying and hacking.

A "pickup artist" did math similar to this and concluded guys should spend
very little time on girls that aren't interested in them, as it's emotionally
taxing and numerically daft.

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petitmiam
Seeing as it's now many years on, I'd like to see a follow up on this. Is the
guy now happily married?

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toomuchcoffee
Reminds me of joke I heard at cocktail party recently, told by a rather
attractive female scientist:

"So, what do mathematicians and physicists use for birth control? Their
personalities."

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noblethrasher
A happier version of the same kind of argument:
<http://mashable.com/2012/02/14/drake-stacy-infographic/>

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sekm
So from his stats... The chances of finding a girl of your dreams is literally
one in (a) three million?!

