On September 18^th we welcomed President of OkCupid, Christian Rudder, to discuss his newly published book Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One’s Looking). We had a fantastic turnout at Blucora, one of our member companies located on the Eastside.

Previous to his arrival in Seattle, Christian had been all over the national news and some OKCupid algorithms had sparked some controversy. Seattle was Christian’s last stop on his long and undoubtedly exhausting press circuit for this book, but this did not hinder his enthusiasm for his findings and for engaging with his audience.

He only took about ten minutes to give his “spiel.” Christian began by explaining that he and his team had to find a way to quantify the social data in order to interpret it, as they are all introverted  “programming-types.” He did not go into the logic behind OKCupid’s QuickMatch algorithm, but focused more on the motivation for its creation and the findings that derived from collecting data.

Some findings included: Men almost always “lie” and add a few inches to their reported height. Their collected data revealed that taller men do, in fact, get more messages; typically because women can set filters to only show taller men. Graphs of collected data were used to demonstrate other trends they found, including one to depict that men of all ages find women in their 20’s most attractive.

Then Christian welcomed questions from the audience. Sitting in the audience was a newly wed couple that had actually met on OKCupid. Christian congratulated them, but reiterated that the site and the algorithm does not ensure or even aim to make “soulmate” type of connections, but more to facilitate relationships and encourage conversations.

Please join us for our next Tech Author event on January 21^st. Joshua Davis Spare Parts : Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream. Joshua Davis’s Spare Parts is a story about overcoming insurmountable odds and four young men who proved they were among the most patriotic and talented Americans in this country—even as the country tried to kick them out.

“Spare Parts is an unforgettable tale of hope and human ingenuity. Against a backdrop of urban desert decay, a faltering school system, and our country’s cutthroat immigration policies, Joshua Davis offers a moving testament to how teamwork, perseverance, and a few good teachers can lift up and empower even the humblest among us.” —Héctor Tobar, author of Deep Down Dark