I have a stupid idea, but I've decided to propose it anyway so everyone can poke holes in it: Arranged Marriages at a community/societal level.
I believe arranged marriages would generally produce far superior outcomes over nonarranged marriages, granted that a centralized authority had both the capability and authority to mandate it for a large enough population. Free market principles do typically produce superior outcomes (in terms of efficiency) to centralized planning, due to the information problem. But I think marriages are a notable exception because:
- People, on average, don't seem to have any clue what they actually want. They feel enormous social and biological pressure to rush into suboptimal situations.
- People have a strong incentive to misrepresent themselves to others. Unlike most economic transactions, there's highly imperfect information, or in other words, it's very difficult to objectively determine someone's inner self. And unfortunately, many people are notoriously bad at seeing the truth when it comes to their partner.
- People have a tendency to perpetuate unhealthy patterns in their relationships. There's a disincentive towards breaking vicious cycles.
Let's create a really snazzy match.com or okcupid framework, one that vastly surpasses the commercial versions that currently exist, mandate everyone's participation subject to certain caveats and conditions:
- Anyone under age 25 can't get married at all. No kids either, mandatory birth control and abortions. You spend this period of life in relationships that are preordained to be "going nowhere", so there's really no pressure to be monogamous or possessive.
- When you reach the age of 25, you can either opt in or opt out. If you opt in, you're added to the marriage pool. If you opt out, you continue to abide by the rules of the under 25 crowd. You can opt in later if you want to.
- Once you're added to the marriage pool, you register, take good photos, and work with a counselor to provide an accurate profile. The profile has both a public and private element. The public portion of your profile is very much like an existing match or okcupid profile, in the sense that it attempts to put your best foot forward. The private profile, which is not available for public viewing, contains a full psychological assessment, employment history, income information, genetic risk factors (i.e. Gattaca) etc.
- Part of the registration process involves determination of who and what you're attracted to. Everyone assesses/rates hundreds of profiles in an effort to isolate which characteristics (both physically and otherwise) tend to maximize interest, attraction, connection, and commitment. The system creates preliminary match criteria based on private profiles, and attempts to map you against other users who seem to be compatible. You get a certain number of matches over a certain period of time. The system even arranges dates for you, which you are required to go on eventually (subject to scheduling/availability).
- After you've had a chance to date a certain amount of people, and provided feedback on each one, the system puts forth a recommendation, which is reviewed by a panel. If the recommendation is approved, the couple is mandated to marry.
Even typing all of that out, I recognize what an insane and faulty idea this is, but, what the hell, here's a thread. Discuss.
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