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<\/div>Quantum loving<\/h2>\n
The Netflix show Love Is Blind<\/i> had rather passed Feedback by. It\u2019s a dating show in which participants aren\u2019t allowed to see each other face to face and only communicate by voice. Only if they get engaged are they allowed to meet in person.<\/p>\n
Like so many reality shows, it bills itself as a \u201csocial experiment\u201d<\/a>, which is an interesting way to describe televising something so personal for entertainment, but we are sure Netflix\u2019s consent forms are impeccable.<\/p>\n We bring this up because season seven, released in October, featured a quantum physicist. Garrett Josemans is a technical program manager at IonQ, which is developing \u201cnext-generation\u201d quantum computing systems.<\/p>\n According to a company blog post<\/a> promoting his experience, he said: \u201cThe opportunity to focus on love in a structured setting was intriguing.\u201d That\u2019s one way to put it. Josemans added: \u201cMy intellectual curiosity kicked in, and it felt like fate knocking on my door.\u201d<\/p>\n Evidently he was right: Josemans is now married to fellow cast member Taylor Krause. As one of my colleagues in the news department noted, being comfortable with two confusing and conflicting realities existing at once is probably a boon in some relationships.<\/p>\n Speaking of dating, Mrs Feedback draws our attention to pheromone maxing, sometimes spelled maxxing. This is apparently something that alpha males do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Actually, let me stop you right there. Alpha males are not a thing. The concept comes from research on captive wolves in the 1940s, which found that a single male would often dominate the pack. From there, the concept spread into popular culture. However, it turns out that wild wolves<\/a> don\u2019t behave like this: their packs are more like extended families. Wolf researcher L. David Mech has spent much of his career trying to correct the record, including attempting to get one of his own early books taken out of print.<\/p>\n Where were we? OK, so human alpha males (which don\u2019t exist) have come up with a novel strategy to attract women as sexual partners. They stop showering and wear the same clothes for several days, thus maximising their \u201cmusk\u201d and generating an alluring cocktail of pheromones that will, we guess, drive women into a sexual frenzy.<\/p>\n The idea gained a certain amount of internet fame after a teenaged TikTok user posted a video about his experiments, which began: \u201cFirst off<\/a>, I\u2019m not stinky. I\u2019m pheromone maxing.\u201d A follow-up video, from<\/a> his mother, asked other parents for advice on how to get him to take a shower.<\/p>\n Feedback isn\u2019t quite sure where to start. Maybe with the idea of human pheromones? It\u2019s true that some animals communicate by releasing chemicals called pheromones into the air, some of which play a role in mating. However, despite decades of research, there is no definitive evidence<\/a> that human pheromones exist. It is a bold choice to base your dating strategy around a phenomenon that may not be real.<\/p>\n Even if human sexual pheromones do exist, why would avoiding showering maximise your output? And why would the pheromones cancel out your other smells?<\/p>\n It has been a long time since Feedback played the dating game, but our foggy memories suggest the best way to connect with people was talking to them, finding shared interests and being nice. Still: young minds, fresh ideas.<\/p>\n Feedback has never given a TED Talk \u2013 our invitation probably got lost in our spam folder \u2013 but the idea is to get the best and brightest to communicate their ideas to a wide audience. CRISPR pioneer and Nobel prizewinner Jennifer Doudna has done two TED Talks<\/a>. Malcolm Gladwell, of The Tipping Point<\/i> fame, has done four<\/a>, so we guess he\u2019s twice as important.<\/p>\n However, the need for a never-ending fire hose of content necessarily leads to scrabbling around for material \u2013 Feedback knows this feeling all too well \u2013 and so we come to a talk given by Raymond Tang. He delivered<\/a> it in 2017, but TED Conferences\u2019s social media reshared<\/a> it in October, when Feedback encountered its profound wisdom for the first time.<\/p>\n Tang was at the time an IT manager for a financial services company. However, his talk is about \u201clessons from the philosophy of water\u201d. You see, by studying how water behaves, we can find fulfilment in our own lives. This sort of thing makes Feedback\u2019s brain feel scratchy, so we will give you a few examples of what was on offer.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we think about water flowing in a river, it is always staying low,\u201d says Tang. Yes, liquids under gravity do tend to do that. \u201cWater is open to change. Depending on the temperature, it can be a liquid, solid or gas\u2026 We, too, are expected to constantly reinvent and refresh our skills to stay relevant.\u201d Feedback appreciates the comparison between the state of the job market and the experience of being boiled and frozen. Truly, water exemplifies the hustle mentality. #grind<\/p>\n Let\u2019s set aside the obvious fact: that you could get similar advice from one of those internet memes that emboss an \u201cinspirational\u201d phrase onto a photo of a waterfall. The real trouble with advice like this is that it is never as universally applicable as the speaker claims. Many hands might make light work, but too many cooks spoil the broth. We hereby pitch our TED Talk: \u201cIt depends\u201d.<\/p>\n Got a story for Feedback?<\/b><\/p>\n You can send stories to Feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com<\/a>. Please include your home address. This week\u2019s and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nMaxximum stink<\/h2>\n
TED talk trouble<\/h2>\n