Command F: One Part Science, Three Parts Intuition

Long before dating apps, humans built systems for helping people find one another: families, communities, matchmakers, rituals, intuition, and a good amount of unsolicited advice. Jenna Arnold speaks with Greta Tufvesson and Nikki Lewis of The Bevy, Molly Tolsky of Hey Alma, Phillipa James of Fate, and Rabbi Yonah Schiller of Common Era about what happens when one of humanity’s oldest social technologies meets one of its newest. Jewish culture carries the idea of bashert—באַשערט, destined or “meant to be”—alongside traditions that insist love still requires discernment, responsibility, community, and work. As AI promises better matching and fewer wrong turns, this episode asks whether technology can help us find connection without teaching us to optimize the mystery out of it. If algorithms become better at choosing for us, what responsibility do we retain for cultivating intuition, tolerating uncertainty, and becoming people capable of recognizing another human being rather than merely evaluating them? Full episode transcripts and more information available at thelandofand.live