Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch and in today's episode, we're asking the question, can algorithms lead to love? Now, this is prompted by a Wall Street Journal article I read about a recent Stanford experiment, creating a program called Date Drop. It's a matchmaking algorithm that was created by a grad student which has now drawn over 5,000 Stanford students, 2/3 of their undergrad population, into its weekly romance drops. And basically it works like this. Students answer 66 questions about themselves, questions about their values, their beliefs, and then the algorithm generates matches for them based on the answers to their questions. The idea behind this is that Stanford students are driven to succeed, maybe even a little socially awkward, very busy, and they just don't have time to meet people in the traditional way. And so by answering these questions, they're shrinking down the process and going on dates with people they have a relatively high belief that they will be a match with. Now, Stanford has done things like this before. They have had, different programs aimed at connecting students, but, none of them has been, have been as successful or as popular as Date Drop. And what experts believe is that perhaps this algorithm is a sign of what's to come. Not just online dating apps or matchmaking services, but customized, distillation of who you are pairing with someone else and just telling you this is the person you're going on a date with. Now listen, there are a lot of ways to meet someone and fall in love. And probably mathematically there are people listening to this episode who met their spouse online. This is not going to be an episode about how that can't work, but it is a warning. Because what Day Drop is doing is turning love, in this case romantic love, into a commodity, into a service. It is a self centered approach designed to help pair you with the person who best fits you. It is two people meeting and saying, based on the math, you are a right fit. For me, it is an approach that turns love into a commodity. And you know, the Bible has a lot to say about romantic love. Of course it has a lot to say about love. And in general, for example, the Song of Songs. The Song of Solomon is an entire book of the Bible that is erotic poetry. It's a poem that Solomon is writing to his wife long before he turns to polygamy. It's about the beauty of love in the context of a faithful covenant heterosexual marriage. And Solomon says this in Song of Songs, chapter 8, verse 7. He says, Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned. it's so interesting that he says that. He says, you know, love is so powerful. And he says part of what makes it powerful is you can't buy isn't about a service. It isn't, a good that you can translate into buying and selling. But that's what Date Drop is doing. Because of course, you know, right now it's an experiment. Soon you'll be able to subscribe for 9 99, or however much it costs. That's where we're headed. One more app, one more AI agent, one more online tool to give us the life we want. But of course, love is about recognizing the value of another person. Love is not about who I am and saying to someone else, you must complete me, you must match me. And I worry about, about relationships that begin with that approach in mind. I've said similar things about something like love languages before. There's no problem with knowing your love language. But if your starting point is, you must give me X because that is what I need, that's not love. Love doesn't begin with the self. And the way you know that is that the triune God, Father, Son and Spirit show us what love is like. Listen to the way Jesus talks about the Father. Listen to the way the Father talks about Jesus. Listen to the way the Spirit leads to the praise of both Father and Son. In the New Testament, what you'll see is that it is an other centered, it is a giving kind of love. Algorithms make us the point. They put us at the center. They curate for what we think we want. And my fear is what all that leads to is relationships that say, right now, you're what I need. But if what I need changes, you won't be the fit. Soon you'll turn to an algorithm that'll tell you if it's time to get a divorce. And then when you do another algorithm who tells you who you should marry next. That isn't love. It's, a good, It's a service. And that is something Christians should be saying. Love doesn't begin with me. It begins with you. Seeing your value, sharing your value, serving who you are. And in that, we find a love that can last. A covenantal, self-sacrificing love modeled after Jesus. Be wary of algorithms of any shape and any size who put you at the center and promise to give you what you want. What you might just find is that what you thought was best for you isn't actually right at all. Hey, thanks for, watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!