Bruce Sterling is the author of many incredible science fiction books. He's also a heck of a writer and an eloquent speaker. I saw him a few years ago at Harvard Coop and he blew my mind, same as he did 10 years ago when I first saw him speak at Amherst. His rant at SXSW last week doesn't fail to impress.

I love the part about 1/4 way down where he puts Google up against AI guru Allan Turing's artificial intelligence engine.

When I think about it: do I really WANT some classical Artificial Intelligence computer that can talk to me just like Alan Turing? Or do I prefer Google? Imagine two start-up companies. One of 'em has got Alan Turing's disembodied talking head inside a box, but no search engines. In the other company, they have no AI, but they get to use Google. Which company out-competes the other? One company asks: where do I find a cheap supplier? In response, they get a really genius math lecture by Alan Turing. Alan is really sincere about it, he's really thinking hard about the problem of supply, there inside his box. The other company has Google, so in about ten seconds they not only find a supplier but all kinds of massively popular links to other suppliers. Which company wins?

The passage reminded me of the battle over who's scientific matching algorithm is the best. Dating sites more interactive in nature would not necessitate 500 questions being asked of each member. Throw them a test or two to self-identify and filter on a few key personality attributes and leave it to the people figure it out themselves. Dating people you met taking a test on the Interweb is weird enough.

Sometimes people don't know what's best for them. Often it's up to someone to come along and blow their mind by introducing something totally new.

In tandem with whatever personality testing/profiling product wins the hearts and minds of online daters, introduce the concept of graduated communication, offer them a headset with a mic and maybe a webcam. Provide some guidance and a helping hand and let them be humans.

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