There Is a Robot Swiping Right On Tinder

People have different strategies when it comes to Tinder — some people maintain super high standards, some people actually care about the profile description, some people just swipe right on everybody to increase their odds. And then there's the engineer who created a Tinder swiping machine to automatically swipe right for him. And you thought dating couldn't get anymore saturated with technology. We're not making connections through smartphones, we're now outsourcing the process to machines.

Who needs Skynet, the machines are already our overlords.

Of course, even without mechanical help, Tinder is always a bit of a weird place that's not exactly conducive to meaningful connection anyway — and obviously isn't designed to be. Liking someone's looks based on a few (at most) Facebook pictures is not exactly much of a basis for potential compatibility. And a quick glance at Tumblrs like Tinderline or Straight White Boys Texting demonstrate just how often things just do not go well. Plus, there are plenty of horror stories like this guy's Tinder tantrum to disabuse us all of any romantic notions about Tinder or online dating in general. (Though apparently lots of Tinder guys are feminists?)

Still, as tedious as it can be swiping through Tinder profiles — especially, I'd imagine, for people intent on only swiping right — building a robot to do your swiping for you just feels like cheating. After all, if you want to try to game the system, you should just download an app like everybody else. The robot thing is clearly taking the madness too far. Even if robots are pretty cool.

To word on where this guy and his robot live, but if you find yourself on any Tinder dates with an engineer, maybe ask if you owe your connection to a swiping robot. At the very least, it's a good conversation starter.