In efforts to introduce authenticity to online dating, Tinder has rolled out a new feature called "Blind Date," which pairs swipers up for a chat before they're able to view each other's profiles. "Inspired by the OG way to meet someone new, usually at the hand of a meddlesome aunt or well-meaning friend, Blind Date gives the daters of today a low-pressure way to put their personality first and find a match they truly vibe with," Tinder said. People on Tinder who try out this feature will answer a series of icebreaker questions like "It's OK to wear a shirt ____ times without washing it" and "I put ketchup on____." Based on their responses, users will get matched and see the responses of their potential match. They will then get placed in a timed chat, after which they can choose to match with the other person or not.

If you've ever downloaded a dating app, chances are someone has already told you that you need to see the Black Mirror episode, "Hang the DJ," which takes the idea of algorithm-driven dating to a whole other level. For the uninitiated, Black Mirror is a sci-fi series of standalone stories about mysterious, alternative worlds, that double as critiques on society, like a modern-day Twilight Zone. And if you really haven't seen any of it yet, DID YOU NOT SEE THE SPOILER ALERT ABOVE? Call it professional bias, but I loved "Hang the DJ," which was released on Netflix a few months ago. The episode was both strange and a grotesquely familiar interpretation of the direction our romantic futures are headed--as in, straight into an AI-powered supercomputer compiling data about our entire lives.

This talk will analyze responses to funniness of five versions of 10 different jokes. The responses of one of them will then be compared to theoretical analysis and representation of the same joke based on Script-based Semantics Theory of Humor, General Theory of Verbal Humor, and Ontological Semantic Theory of Humor.