Sphygmograph Be Damned: The Science of Love
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Pushkin Industries
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2026
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chris McKinlay is a good-looking, smart student at UCLA, but he can't seem to get a girlfriend. He's a computing expert, so why not use his technology prowess to supercharge his search for a soulmate? He starts building an army of bots and unleashes them into the world of online dating. Chris' search for love leads him to some unexpected places, and it might be teaching us all the wrong lessons about love.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.5 | When it comes to love these days, we like to think that we've got it all figured out. |
| 0:08.5 | We have this false sense of I have control over this. |
| 0:12.1 | I can filter for someone who's over six feet tall. |
| 0:14.7 | I can filter for this religion. |
| 0:16.1 | But it's not a filter to turn on to say, how kind am I? |
| 0:19.0 | How loyal am I? |
| 0:20.1 | This Valentine's season, the Happiness Lab is digging into what really shapes our closest |
| 0:24.5 | connections, with smart, practical insights from experts on love, intimacy, and belonging. |
| 0:30.1 | Listen to the Happiness Lab with me, Dr. Lari Santos, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:44.6 | Pushkin. you get your podcasts. Chris McKinley popped open a second window on his desktop computer and checked for messages from OKCupid. |
| 0:54.7 | Oh dear, oh dear. |
| 0:57.0 | Yet again, his favourite online dating website |
| 1:00.6 | was offering Tumbleweed. |
| 1:03.7 | That didn't seem right. |
| 1:06.5 | Chris was a catch. |
| 1:08.2 | He was smart. |
| 1:09.5 | A degree in Chinese, a master's in mathematics, and he was nearly through a catch. He was smart, a degree in Chinese, a masters in mathematics, and he was nearly |
| 1:13.9 | through a PhD in data science, which was why he was sitting in front of a computer screen |
| 1:19.6 | in a cramped cubicle in a deserted open plan office at UCLA's Mathematics Sciences building |
| 1:26.2 | at 3 o'clock in the morning. He was handsome, blue eyes, |
... |
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