It’s been well over thirty years since the release of Weird Science. For those of you unfamiliar with the plot of the classic 80’s flick, it goes a little something like this: two high school nerds use highly questionable computational and engineering methods to build themselves the “perfect” woman. While I can’t speculate as to how close the global scientific community is to achieving the ends laid out by Gary and Wyatt in the film (most likely dangerously close), I can say that societally, we now have other means for building the “perfect” companion in our brains. Technology gives us the power to fill in the many blanks presented by the potential partners we come across.
The blanks exist because these would-be partners want it that way. Anyone who wants us to know more simply divulges to us to the information we seek. Yet we trudge on, stalking Facebook profiles, Instagram feeds, Spotify playlists etc. for anything we can find, determined to fall in love with who we think someone is. On top of that, we pair what we find with the tiny tangibles we are given to convince ourselves someone is “right” for us. Really, it’s what a person has resolutely and very selectively projected to us that we are so attracted to. Logic doesn’t seem to matter much in this arena. We know better. Despite sounder judgment, borderline-obsessive internet sleuthing in various degrees of severity persists in many of us. I must confess to it personally. While what we find isn’t always real, I’ve concluded that the feelings we generate in the process are.
