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Man Uses Drake Equation To Explain Girlfriend Woes
artemis67 writes "A man studying in London has taken a mathematical equation that predicts the possibility of alien life in the universe to explain why he can't find a girlfriend. Peter Backus, a native of Seattle and PhD candidate and Teaching Fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick, near London, in his paper, 'Why I don't have a girlfriend: An application of the Drake Equation to love in the UK,' used math to estimate the number of potential girlfriends in the UK. In describing the paper on the university Web site he wrote 'the results are not encouraging. The probability of finding love in the UK is only about 100 times better than the probability of finding intelligent life in our galaxy.'"
This is taken directly from this episode of This American Life with Ira Glass.
-l
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No no no, this was a bad idea entirely. Now if he does find someone, he won't be able to tell her "you're the only one", he just proved there are 25 other women he would like to be with!
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
He is studying at the University of Warwick, which is near Coventry. It is far away from London. He is "studying in London" in the same sense that all Californians are residents of San Francisco. Has FOX News' target audience never heard of any English city besides London?
Love, too, is surprisingly predictable. Take two people who would not automatically rule each other out romantically, put them in frequent contact with each other, give each a significant need (sexual or not) that isn't being met in their life but is met through the other, and odds are surprisingly high that they'll end up in a relationship. And there are all sorts of actions that dramatically increase the odds. For example, confessing your feelings to another person tends to encourage them to reciprocate even if they hadn't had the feelings before. That's why the #1 and #2 rules for if you're trying to avoid having an affair are that if you develop feelings for someone else, immediately cut off contact with the person insomuch as is possible and *never* confess your feelings to them.
Stop it, stop it, it's fine. I will *destroy* you.
naw -- you're probably better off if they don't know what you look like.
season 2 episode 20
I wouldn't be surprised if the probability of a person finding a girlfriend is inversely correlated to how likely they are to attempt to calculate the probability of finding a girlfriend. ;)
Stop it, stop it, it's fine. I will *destroy* you.
Right. Any story about a mathematician finding a girlfriend should be in the science fiction section.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Anybody can find a girlfriend. The question is, how difficult is it to find one that meets his criteria. If he's trying to find one that's super hot, enchanted by him, not a deranged bitch, and not in it for the money, then maybe his chances of finding alien life are actually higher.
Doesn't work either. You can't win with girls. Pay no attention to them and you won't get them, pay attention and all you get is a lawsuit for stalking and a restraining order... you just can't win.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.