From IBM to Hinge: Professor Mar Hicks on the history of computer dating

Long before Hinge or Tinder, early computing took finding your perfect match to a new level. Associate Professor of Data Science Mar Hicks, and author of "Computer Love: Replicating Social Order Through Early Computer Dating Systems," spoke with the UVA School of Data Science about the history of computerized matchmaking.

Q: What is the earliest example of computer dating?   

A: The earliest examples of computer dating occurred very early on, as mainframes came into universities in the mid 20th century. The earliest examples were more like experiments — they were not businesses. For example, in the early 1960s, students with access to computers in European universities would sometimes create matchmaking programs for fun: one common thing they did was use computer programs to assign people partners for a party. So, they used the computer as a fun way to break the ice for campus mixers. This all changed when people started trying to make computer dating into a business. The people who started the earliest computer dating businesses noted that they'd heard about these experiments and decided to try to run with the idea to make a profit. 

Q: In what ways have women played a large role in the history of computerized matchmaking?  

A: Until fairly recently, many people believed that computer dating had first been successfully commercialized by a group of Harvard students who began an early computer dating business called Operation Match in 1965. However, as I showed in my research on the subject, this example — though early — was not the first recorded instance of a successful computer dating business, even though it gets a lot of attention by virtue of having been associated with Harvard. In fact, there was a computer dating business that had started up a year earlier in the U.K. One thing that was interesting and unusual about this business was that it was run by a woman, and it was not a direct outgrowth of the forays into computer dating by college students, which at the time was a more natural fit.

Q: How were computerized matchmaking services advertised?  

A: The interesting thing about early computer matchmaking services is that in the case of the earliest computer dating business, which was in the U.K., it was advertised for adults of all ages. And, indeed, they attracted people who were widowers or even divorcees, which at the time were still stigmatized. Using any matchmaking service at the time, what were often called "marriage bureaus" in the U.K., was seen as a bit less than fully respectable. There was the perception or fear that these businesses might be fronts from other kinds of arrangements, and that even if they weren't, it still wasn't quite appropriate. So, there were many newspapers and magazines that refused to run ads for the first computer dating business. In fact, Joan Ball and her predecessor, from whom she purchased the business that eventually became Com-Pat, had to resort to things like advertising on pirate radio. In the 1960s, there were "Pop Pirates" who ran radio stations on boats or structures just offshore because the BBC didn't allow certain popular music on its airwaves. Many rock and pop fans tuned in to these illegal radio stations. In the U.S., in the case of the early computer dating business that catered to college students (Operation Match), the young men who started it first advertised it as a way to meet girls, because early on they very much had young men in mind as the primary customers and were focused on a student crowd that still mostly attended universities that weren't fully co-ed. (Harvard, for instance, didn't allow women and men to live in all the same areas of campus until the early 1970s). 

Q: How did the enigmatic and seemingly magical qualities of computers during this time period impact public perception of computerized matchmaking?   

A: In this period, computers were still room-sized and not well understood by the general public. The press had been calling them "electronic brains," which made them seem more complicated and mysterious than they were. Many laypeople likely had never seen a computer before — or perhaps had only seen a picture of one. So, people likely ascribed a lot more to computers than they were actually able to do well — much like people now tend to ascribe a lot more to generative AI than it is able to do well. At the time, there was definitely a perception that computers could make anything more precise and scientific, and computer dating was definitely an outgrowth of that. 

Q: What aspects of early computer dating still exist within the framework of modern dating apps?  

A: One of the important aspects of computer dating that still exists in modern dating apps is the ability to access more information about the people who you'll meet before you actually meet them — if they're truthful, of course. In some ways this has always been something that's given people a false sense of security with computer matchmaking and it continues, too, if the stories one regularly hears about online dating are any measure. But even back in the early decades of computer dating, there were women who found themselves put in danger or manipulated by the business models of certain computer dating companies, especially as these companies grew larger and marketed their services more aggressively in the later 1960s and into the 1970s. 

Q: Since the days of early computing, we have entrusted machines with such a vulnerable side of our humanity. Why do you think this is?  

A: I think it's because a lot of the time people find it hard to make connections with others, so they'd rather entrust that responsibility to someone or something else. In earlier times, this might have been a friend or a relative, and it still happens organically nowadays through school, work or social circles. But as more people move around and live more atomized lives, there's a gap that can't be easily filled by local community. It's not a coincidence that we saw the first computer dating business catching on in a busy urban center, during the "swinging ‘60s" in London.  

Q: Do you have a favorite advert of computerized matchmaking?  

A: I think my favorite advertisement for computer dating might be the long-lost audio advertisements that ran on pirate radio. These were very ephemeral, so I've only heard one from a bootleg recording that someone made at the time of one these pirate radio station broadcasts. But I just think it's really a great story and such an interesting slice of overlapping histories of technology, culture, and politics. 

Mar Hicks does research on the history of computing, labor, and technology. Hicks studies how collective understandings of progress are defined by competing discourses of social value and economic productivity, and how technologies often hide regressive ideals while espousing "revolutionary" or "disruptive" goals. Hicks is currently working on a book about the history of the dot-com boom and bust and how that has led to many of our current technological issues. Hicks's multiple-award-winning first book, "Programmed Inequality" (MIT Press, 2017), looks at how the British lost their early lead in computing by discarding women computer workers, and what this cautionary tale can tell us about current issues in high tech. Hicks is also co-editor of the book "Your Computer Is On Fire" (MIT Press, 2021), a volume of essays about how we can begin to fix our broken high-tech infrastructures. 

Before joining UVA, Hicks was Associate Professor of History of Technology at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and was a fellow at the National Humanities Center in 2018-2019. Hicks holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from Duke University in History, and a B.A. in History from Harvard. More information can be found at: marhicks.com.