
Fake girlfriend, revisited - jonastern
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35585087
======
azinman2
I have a somewhat analogous experience that proves to me this could plausibly
work.

A few years ago I was single and met a guy at 'da club' who was visiting just
for the weekend from .au. We hit it off and hung out while he was in SF until
he flew home (to his husband, they were in an open relationship.. I know
complicated). Note: This initial physical chemistry is the part that a
"service" may never be able to replicate, and might be a necessary pre-
condition for many.

But... for the next 6 months or so while I was stressed out, single, and
building a startup, I got relief by texting him all the time. I called him my
fake boyfriend at the time, even to my friends! I got a lot of the same
support/companionship I needed purely virtually that I'd normally get from a
real relationship. And because he was married it could never get too 'real,'
but the role he played for me was real.

Many people go through hard times alone, and all the
business/friend/family/therapist networks in the world can't replicate the
role of a romantic partner. If the personality is real and is compatible, and
the conversations have memory, then I think a synthetic partner is a beautiful
thing for people who need it most.

~~~
cheez
Huh, that's funny. I've had the same kind of relationship with a woman for the
last 2 years, though we dated for a relatively (for me) long time after my
divorce. She has kept in touch after I moved. Only recently, I think she is
finally ready to "move on" so I've backed off 100%.

It's true. Having someone who cares about you with whom you can relieve
personal stress is meaningful. She definitely did that for me, and I hope I
did that for her.

On the other hand, I wonder if it has always been like this or there is
something unique to our current societal configuration causing the need for
these synthetic partnerships.

~~~
cheez
Aaand... She just texted me. It continues.

------
keithpeter
OA quote: _" "lower league English football" wasn't available"_

Possibly explains the recurring need for a fake one.

Serious contribution: bots faking it with other bots generating large numbers
of apparently real social profiles. Not just gf/bf whatever but other forms of
relationship (fake boss asking for more work this weekend as a cover for...).

Ideal chaff for the surveillance society.

~~~
dineshp2
It wouldn't be too hard for the surveillance society to distinguish the real
profiles and bots(Edit: or people pretending to be different people).

The US Government has built up such far reaching surveillance tools, of which
we have just seen the tip of the iceberg, that this chaff that you are talking
about wouldn't be chaff at all.

~~~
mirimir
These aren't bots. These are people, pretending to be other people.

~~~
dineshp2
Either way, it would be very hard to generate significant chaff that the
surveillance guys would go after.

~~~
mirimir
Maybe. But the thing is that they're going after everything. Add some hot key
words. Back in the day, we used sigs for our Usenet posts that were loaded
with hot keywords.

Anyway, this would cost real money, for sure. But the labor supply for fake
friends is huge, especially if you don't care about proficiency in English.

Edit: For example, one could generate numerous fake Russian acquaintances of
Edward Snowden, and have each buy a few fake friends. Maybe the fake friends
would be impressed ;)

~~~
DanBC
When someone suggests rolling their own crypto a bunch of people pop up to
point out the considerable risks.

We need the same for these "wheat / chaff" steganographic noise generation
schemes. Steganography is probably secure, but people tend to vastly
underestimate the amount of cover material needed.

Considerable money and time has been devoted to "finding the real signal".

The Usenet keyword triggers were trivially easy to filter. Mostly because
people just put a list, in all caps, at the end of their post.

We know these are trivially easy to filter because putting a list like
[ECHELON CIA NSA GCHQ IRA BOMB inurl:groups.google.com] returns loads. Here's
one example, with the handy words "anti echelon block"
[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/uk.media/KqhWP1rLF9U/G...](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/uk.media/KqhWP1rLF9U/GK05lbwYuUcJ)

~~~
AI_Overlord
Doesn't that mean that the real bad guy would just put that list in his
messages?

------
ilkkao
If the boyfriend/girlfriend ratio is 60/40, they could almost just connect
these people together.

~~~
lmm
I used to work in the phone industry. If you're allowing users to message each
other you need human moderators, otherwise you'll get death threats and
bizarre fantasies carefully worded to get around any automated filter. If
you're going to pay a human to read every message you might as well pay them
to write them, it takes a similar amount of time and usually means better
service.

~~~
guard-of-terra
"Moderated dating" is an interesting idea by itself.

Where both sides have to conform to a very strict etiquette (platform rules),
until they both decide to move their relationship to next level anyway. I can
see how it can appeal to some people.

~~~
_0ffh
Seems a bit counterproductive to me!

Why would you choose to not have information about the other party, when you
are trying to evaluate them?

~~~
guard-of-terra
Because you don't want to disclose your information.

~~~
_0ffh
So you are saying that I would want to use a "moderated dating" platform if I
needed a very strict etiquette in order to conceal that I was a dick?

<s>Sounds like an attractive place to me!</s>

~~~
Jtsummers
All dating sites are moderated, to some degree. At least the mainstream ones.
I can't think of one where you start by posting your home phone and address
and full name.

You start by sending messages, establish a relationship. Then you elevate it
to messaging/calling via other platforms or real world meetings at your own
pace.

It's not for concealing that you're a dick (well, it could be), it's more for
protecting you from who knows how many people with who knows what intentions.
It's not a guarantee, but it's a filter that works fairly well.

~~~
_0ffh
How could this protect anyone from anything worse than the occasional verbal
abuse? Real bad people with real bad intentions will most certainly not be
frustrated by some automatic word filter or a ban on dick pics. They will
probably be the /last/ ones to do anything obviously fishy. You just can't be
a sneaky bastard luring in innocent victims and an obvious prick at the same
time. Unless you are doing some amazingly charismatic virtuoso double
bluffing, I suppose. Or you're just looking for a willing victim looking for a
perp. I think the whole idea is beyond stupid.

------
rubiquity
> _" He mainly needed a fake girlfriend to get his parents off his back after
> he was divorced."_

Good grief. Have some mercy, parents.

~~~
dominotw
I know lots of my Indian friends got married ( sometimes sight unseen) to get
their parents off their backs.

------
mjb394
Dunno why people are surprised that (straight) women are interested in
boyfriends as well. Plus or minus a percentage or two, there are as many
single women as single men, and they face many similar family/societal
pressures to be involved with someone (if not more due to the eventual
biological timebomb). Partners are not commodities, and it's way better for
women to be single than to have the wrong partner.

~~~
lolo_
I think I'll get downvoted for this, esp. on HN, but I think the main surprise
people have with this kind of thing (+ what you're missing out with the
comparison to men frankly) is the significant biological difference between
men and women - it's far, far easier for a woman to find a male partner than
vice-versa. Generally, women choose.

In history 40% of all men have reproduced, while 80% of all women have. It's
just biology.

So it's surprising they couldn't find this in real life. Additionally, women
tend to have better support networks than men.

Of course, this doesn't mean it's easy to find a _decent_ guy, and yes,
partners are not commodities, so maybe that is the real issue while still
wanting some companionship.

And it's not just way better for _women_ to be single than to have the wrong
partner, it's way better for a person to be single than to have the wrong
partner.

~~~
rokhayakebe
_Generally, women choose._

Until you spend 6 solid months in the gym. Just saying.

~~~
justathrow2k
Sorry, what is it you're saying?

------
FLUX-YOU
1\. Hire fake girlfriends

2\. Get them to solve captchas or do mechanical turk stuff

3\. ???

4\. Profit

~~~
roymurdock
Humans as robots as a service arbitrage.

------
venamresm__
Made an account just to post this. I used to follow a columnist called Jann
Burner.

That's what he wrote on the subject:

``` And now, a closer look at what is to be in store for us. Computers will
become totally voice activated mimetic devices cued to their owner so no one
else will be able to activate them. The good ones will not even be deceived by
a recording of their owner’s voice. They will “seem” to become attached and
will be able to pick up subtle clues that will be undetectable by technicians.
Somehow (no one will be quite sure how) they will be able to tell the real
from the Memorex. They will be able to read “stress” levels in their owner’s
voice and eye like an attentive pet. “What’s wrong John? Have an especially
difficult day?” Wireless wearables will become the style. No keyboard, no
mouse, no monitor. The hardware will be comprised of two parts: a small pager
like device which will attach to the belt and a headband with a small fiber
optic cable which will twist gracefully around the face and project the full
computer image directly onto the retina of the eye. The ultimate “head’s up
display”.

Websites will have come a long way. People will go from designing personal web
pages and Facebook entries to personal virtual reality sites. Places you will
be able to hang out in. Places friends will be able to visit, the ultimate
private club or salon. Some will be free floating and move like the frequency
of a cell phone, never to be in the same place twice. Others will be so solid
they will be constructed over generations and handed down from father to son,
mother to daughter. Like cybernetic jewelry. Creations in cyberspace will be
an investment.

Eventually people will begin to put their memories of their lives on their
sites. At first they will be like a grand photo-album, but then things will
get more complicated. People will begin to journal their memories (cleaned up
and detuned or exaggerated). This will be called their Book Of Life and when
you fall in love or become very close with someone you will share your “Book
of Life”. You will go to their past (as they remember it or as they want it to
be remembered) which is not to say that that is how it really was, but then,
that is another story. In the end, who cares? The motto of the day will
be,”Intention is Everything”.

Some people will constantly hang out in their own Memory Palaces. Some will
call this Cyber-Porn. Masturbatory! With some people, taking a walk through
their Book of Life will be like a walk through a very cultured and cluttered
museum. With others it will be a walk in a park. With still others, you might
not want to walk through their Book alone, without a guide and without
protection. And especially not at night, even Cyber-Night. It might resemble a
cross between Times Square, New Year’s Eve 1999, and a car crash in progress
with everything happening at once and yet with all the separate incidents
frozen in time, to be savored later, like the left-overs from a frozen dinner.
From a Jeffery Dhamer buffet.

Some people will actually hire others to design their sites, so it will be
dramatic or pretty or impressively chic. Beware of anyone who has someone else
design their Book of Life.

Some people will get so caught up they will actually begin to live in their
book and they will get stuck somewhere between their restructured memory of a
past and their fantasy imagining of a future. Their real life simply will
become a maintenance site for their bio-computer, a place to sleep, fuel the
body, take a dump and sweat, so that the mind might remain healthy, so as to
allow them to really live and move through their silicon/crystal version of
consciousness, through their Book of Life…their Memory Palace. Their perfect
place to be where no wind blows. The center of the cyclone. This will be more
addictive than any drug. ``` See more at: [http://www.unexplained-
mysteries.com/column.php?id=143352](http://www.unexplained-
mysteries.com/column.php?id=143352)

He also has more on it: [http://www.unexplained-
mysteries.com/column.php?id=186379](http://www.unexplained-
mysteries.com/column.php?id=186379)

~~~
tanker
You would likely enjoy Neal Stephenson's novels if you haven't already
discovered him.

~~~
gknoy
Specifically, The Diamond Age:

[http://smile.amazon.com/The-Diamond-Age-Illustrated-
Spectra/...](http://smile.amazon.com/The-Diamond-Age-Illustrated-
Spectra/dp/0553380966)

------
Animats
This has been a thing in Japan for over a decade.[1]

[1] [http://time.com/3998563/virtual-love-
japan/](http://time.com/3998563/virtual-love-japan/)

------
EC1
>You can choose from six _broad_ personalities

That pun made me chuckle.

------
z3t4
Many people are willing to pay to increase their social proof or status..
There's probably an untapped market for selling e-points.

------
shmerl
Sounds like it can be done by AI bot if it will pass the Turing test ;)

------
listic
I wonder how does this business scale. $15 a month is not much for paying
salary.

~~~
praptak
A single person can obviously maintain multiple profiles. Sending some text
messages to a fake partner isn't exactly a full time job.

~~~
dogma1138
Those are usually a "full time job" for those people, they probably handle
1000's of profiles a month.

~~~
praptak
Yes, I meant a _single_ $15/ mo profile doesn't need a full time job.

------
4pkjai
Similar to Girlfriend PlusPlus, except without human operators.

------
kator
This has been going on in MMORPG's for years, at least there it's a bit more
up-front and transparent. And people can do other things to pass the time
while they wait for the fake girlfriend to login. :)

------
known
Dopamine is he culprit

------
shahzeb
The whole thing reminds me of the r/sadcringe subreddit.

------
Steko
There should be a free trial but limited to girls in the Niagara Falls area.

~~~
smcl
I don't get it

~~~
wl
Canadian girlfriend:
[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GirlfriendInCanad...](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GirlfriendInCanada)

