Technology has solved so many of our problems, and yet new research posits that it has yet to master one of the most important aspects of our lives: romantic love. The results of a new study show attraction and desire are not actually predictable by data, which those of us who are prolific online daters probably already know (sadly). Researchers analyzed data from speed daters, who answered around 100 questions about themselves—similar to what you might find on Match.com—and then went on four-minute dates with one another. The long and short of what they found was those who matched on paper did not necessarily match in real life, proving once and for all that Carrie Bradshaw was onto something with all her talk of the “zsa zsa zsu.” In fact, they weren’t able to find one predictor of a good match in 100 questions, which is disheartening to say the least.
The good news, we suppose, is though your dating app or website may not be able to accurately predict who you’ll like, it’s still introducing you to people you wouldn’t otherwise meet, thereby upping your odds of sparking via sheer numbers. Besides, we all sort of knew love wasn’t predictable—it’s rare we actually fall for the “good on paper” guy or gal, right? Here, seven IRL places to let fate introduce you to your mate.
