Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

“I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 265 posts

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#161

Post by UrMomReadsHN »

pherocity_ wrote: post #136
siscia wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, as you can see that is just what I believe. Of course I don't force anybody, it is just my opinion, I believe that I have the right to have an opinion... Anyway, I would like to suggest you to use a language a little more cordial.

It's not about forcing, it's the arrogance that you inherently think somehow know better than the people that want to consume the service. People who think like that are the people who vote like that and suggest that I change my behavior because they don't think I'm capable of making the assessment on my own. Kinda like what you just did with my language. You can have any opinion you want, but the moment you put it o…

>It's the arrogance that you inherently think somehow know better than the people that want to consume the service

Hrm, well, yes, to an extent. However, People do do research on the psychology of human happiness and a bunch of other human charistics and we can answer some questions on what will be "best" in the longrun with quite a bit of certainty.

We also know that oftentimes people are just downright wrong about what will make them happy.

Example- we know spending your money on experiences rather than objects will make you happier in the long run.

If you want to read more about the topic I recommend the book "Stumbling on Happiness."

Sometimes we DO know that your choice is wrong for your goals.

Thats just in general, not particularly about this service.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#162

Post by LLWM »

nmcfarl wrote: post #119
dsuth wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats really not how dating works, at all. Competition spurs attraction, not the other way around.

The latter half is true, I think. But I’d say there’s a significant chunk of folk* who will not hit on people they know are in a relationship. In the first month of your subscription this probably won’t have an effect, but by the sixth month... ---- * This is obviously very cultural - who and where you are can change this a lot in either direction I imagine.

There's a significant chunk of folk who will not hit on anyone at all because they have no confidence or social skills. We get along just fine without them.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#163

Post by abandonliberty »

xianshou wrote: post #2

A perfect application of the Forer effect: humans have an amazing ability to interpret what can apply to anyone as having special significance for themselves. It's the same reason why horoscopes and fortune cookies work. Stepping back and thinking logically, it's easy to see why their messages might apply to a lot of people. But when you're reading one, you can't help but think, "Ah! It says that I would encounter ad…

Very interesting, but the article mentions they're using amazon turk - "real" people. Probably.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#164

Post by sukilot »

stephancoral wrote: post #107
m4tthumphrey wrote: post #95

What happens when mum want's to meet him/her?

That's where my new service, visibleboyfriend.io, comes in. We lease premium models, in both male and female forms, to accompany you to business meetings, family dinners, government functions et cetera. Our models have all been vetted as being 'significantly more attractive than anyone you could probably hope to date' by an independent council of data scientists and casting agency magnates. We also train our models t…

This is already a thing. It is huge in China to rent white "American business partners"

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#165

Post by tedks »

SCHiM wrote: post #126
pavel_lishin wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe it's just a polite way of turning down a guy you're not interested in. Maybe having that instant out is more convenient than having to fight off advances for an hour.

What exactly is polite about lying? It seems like an easy way out instead of the right way out: just telling somebody you're not interested.

This is a very good example of male privilege. What comes to mind as the first thing that would happen as a result of this?

Most women are smaller than the men that hit on them, and are constantly told they need to be vigilant against assault (this is a consequence of victim-blaming, which is wrongheaded, but nonetheless psychologically influencial). A woman saying "I'm not interested" is directly rejecting the man hitting on them, and only for her own reasons. I know people who have been slapped because they rejected someone openly. In a situation that wasn't a crowded environment (for example, if a woman is being harassed on a street) things could easily go worse.

On the other hand, if the woman says "Sorry, I have a boyfriend," the implication is that she would sleep with him, he's so attractive, but sorry, another man already owns her. Men respect men far more than they respect women. I am not a physically intimidating man, but I can defuse situations between aggressive men in clubs hitting on my women friends quite easily by claiming to be their boyfriend.

This has nothing to do with politeness and, like many interactions between women and men, everything to do with survival.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#168

Post by discardorama »

briholt wrote: post #145
CitizenKane wrote: post #100

Funny to see this here. My business partner did the design and I'm friends with the team. I can't say that I feel much for the business, but I've been continually impressed by its ability to generate press. People _love_ talking about and debating this concept, and I can't say that I've been completely free from it. That being said, this is currently probably the most covered startup from Saint Louis. While it is nic…

I just learned about this today. This is the greatest marketing concept since "million dollar homepage." My life is a failure for not having thought of this.

> My life is a failure for not having thought of this.

Actually, I did think of this, many times. But my biggest bottleneck was: how will I scale up the replies? I could handle being a "boyfriend" for, say, 10 women. But any bigger, and I'd need help. I considered MTurk, but thought that quality control would be an issue. (What if the MTurk guy really starts hitting on the woman, they exchange numbers and then he starts stalking her?). Anyways: after considering all the messiness, I gave it a pass.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#169

Post by Animats »

Virtual girlfriends have been popular in Japan for years. Love Plus (2009) for the Nintendo DS was the first to catch on. There are now many others. Some text and send you pictures of what they're doing. You can send your virtual girlfriend presents on-line, which costs real money.

Now in beta, an Oculus Rift virtual girlfriend.

Re: “I paid $25 for an Invisible Boyfriend, and I think I might be in love”

#170

Post by discardorama »

lmm wrote: post #99
CapitalistCartr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For most people, looks ARE part of the equation. It's like removing Pi from an equation. I wonder what's going to happen when science makes looks whatever we want, like hair color.

> For most people, looks ARE part of the equation. It's like removing Pi from an equation. Did you read that OKCupid piece on when they turned off profile pictures for a day? Supposedly the result was better for their users - people who went on these "truly blind dates" had significantly better odds of a successful relationship coming out of it than the site average. Looks do matter, but the way we encounter each oth…

Didn't OKC try a new service called "Crazy Blind Date"? I remember signing up for it. It used geo proximity to match up people. The system wouldn't show you pics of each other until you both agreed on a date at a nearby place. Had a little chat with some woman nearby. When the system finally showed pics to us, she mysteriously had some "emergency" and couldn't make it.... :-D
Post reply on HN