[Economist] 新时代的恋爱（下）

The domination of online dating by a handful of firms and their algorithms is another source of worry. Dating apps do not benefit from exactly the same sort of network effects as other tech platforms: a person’s friends do not need to be on a specific dating site, for example. But the feedback loop between large pools of data, generated by ever-growing numbers of users attracted to an ever-improving product, still exists. The entry into the market of Facebook, armed with data from its 2.2bn users, will provide clues as to whether online dating will inexorably consolidate into fewer, larger platforms.

支撑着网恋存在的背后大公司以及其算法则是这种担心的另一个方面。约会软件并不像其他科技平台上出现的网络现象那样拥有类似的盈利方式，比如某人的朋友并不一定会出现在某个特定的约会网站上。但是由于使用不断增长的约会软件背后的同样不断增长的人群，以及由此产生的不同大数据池之间的环状反馈仍然存在。随着拥有 22 亿用户的脸书公司进入网恋市场，会帮助我们认知网恋软件是否会不可避免的掌握在几个大型的平台手中。

While you were swiping
当你滑动屏幕的时候

But even if the market does not become ever more concentrated, the process of coupling (or not) has unquestionably become more centralised. Romance used to be a distributed activity which took place in a profusion of bars, clubs, churches and offices; now enormous numbers of people rely on a few companies to meet their mate. That hands a small number of coders, tweaking the algorithms that determine who sees whom across the virtual bar, tremendous power to engineer mating outcomes. In authoritarian societies especially, the prospect of algorithmically arranged marriages ought to cause some disquiet. Competition offers some protection against such a possibility; so too might greater transparency over the principles used by dating apps to match people up.

但即使整个网恋市场并没有变得越来越集中，但是配对（或者不能配对）的过程却越来越显得集中化。浪漫爱情以前往往分散发生在酒吧、俱乐部、教堂或者办公室中；现在大量的人却依赖几家公司来遇见另一半。这就将遇见另一半的巨大权利交由一小群程序员，通过算法来确定在虚拟旧酒吧中谁将遇见谁。在某些社会更加，数字算法将使得婚姻不会产生更多的纷争。竞争减少了这种可能性的发生；同样可能使得约会软件在配对算法上更加的公开。

Yet such concerns should not obscure the good that comes from the modern way of romance. The right partners can elevate and nourish each other. The wrong ones can ruin both their lives. Digital dating offers millions of people a more efficient way to find a good mate. That is something to love.

然而这种忧虑不应掩盖新时代的恋爱所带来的益处。合适的另一半将提升和滋养另一半。而错误的伴侣则会毁掉互相的生活。数字时代的恋爱为数百万的人提供了更加高效的方式去寻找另一半。这就是我们爱上它的理由。