LOVE TECH: Systematic Possibilities Of Total Affection

Who says you can’t buy love? Technology that can guide and shape our most intimate relationships is on the horizon, with simulations and robotics amongst them. Shortly, AI-augmented reality, wearables, and digital environments will also change the way we meet, interact, and end our relationships.

But do we understand all the implications love tech will have? Technology is a two-way street. When we interact with it, it interacts with us. We often don’t stop to consider what the entity on the other end of that relationship might take from us in the process.

The widespread systemic consequences of personal convenience are not always evident. The unintended consequences and uses of any given technology can be difficult to predict. As a result, we might be ill-prepared for future possibilities that impact our everyday lives and our society. The future of love is no oddity to that.

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To explore what the near future may hold, Eros Labs’, a fictional love tech company from 2024 created a set of four commercials from the future featuring ‘ tech company from 2024. The intention was to demonstrate and understand how seemingly desirable technology (parts one to three) could have extensive systemic outcomes (part four).

How might technology allow us to meet the ‘right’ partner? What will access to love tech do to our sense of judgment, values, and what we perceive as important? And what if we could navigate our way through tricky circumstances with more ease?

It’s easy to imagine the upside of Love Maps, but they may have negative consequences too. For instance, someone could use this same technology to gaslight their partner. What if someone hacks into the software and uses it to exploit or blackmail you? Less sinister, what is the role of mystery and novelty in love, and is that worth preserving?

But on the bright side, there is potential alternative use:

• HR: Companies might find recruitment, employee engagement, and mentoring/training easier with such tech, but do we want them to have access to our selves?
• Personalized education: can we navigate how to successfully educate people and prepare them for the future of work?
• Augmented parenting: will this type of technology enable hyper-competitive and/or data-driven parenting?

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