Yo Pierre…
Yeah there’s a good range of ways to describe your gender identity on it including non binary terms. It is still very hook up oriented (be prepared for unsolicited dick pics) but you can at least use tags to make it very clear what you’re looking for, be it a more serious romantic relationship or even just looking for friends to chat with.
It’s a pity because in theory a AR/VR headset without any predatory practices would be a really fun gadget to have, some of things it does is impressive and well polished considering it’s the first apple product of it’s kind, but no way does any feature it has right now make the steep price worth it. Unfortunately it’s apple so we know how its going to pan out and people will buy it. A few iterations from now I can see the price going down with more apps and greater functionality but it will become increasingly more predatory. As you’ve said, unskippable ads but also the fact that they’ll basically have a full scan of your face and surroundings. God knows what kind of sinister shit they can do with all that data. It’s already quite fucked up that you’ll see ads and autocompleted search terms on your phone which clearly indicate that your conversations are being listened to and it feels we’ve all just accepted that and are doing nothing about it.
You basically have to brute force dating apps just to get to the conversation stage - that’s what I did with Tinder, Bumble, Grindr etc. Exhaust your “likes” for the day and if you get a match see how the convo goes. Granted this isn’t ideal the cooldown time is so annoying and you might find yourself matched with someone you’re not instantly into, but imo attraction to a person is so much more than a few pictures and a bio so I’ll always try to find out more about the person to see if we click. It’s hard out there though regardless, somehow through pure dumb luck I found my girlfriend on Grindr of all places and haven’t looked back - the odds must be astronomical…
Yeah I think I’m done for in a few years time - I’m not a creative but for the type of office work I do, I could easily see at least a significant chunk of it being replaced by AI. Maybe not a perfect replication but it’s pretty close already from my own experimentation with chatgpt and the likes. Once they integrate AI into your everyday office products - e.g. word processors, spreadsheets, outlook etc. - I fear a lot of office workers are going to find themselves in some trouble. It’s only going to be important decision making and checking over for accuracy and mistakes that will require human input. People will still be needed sure, but their will be reductions in the workforce as companies look to cut costs and maximise profits, even if the AI isn’t perfect yet. Just hoping I can develop some specialisation in other areas in time to futureproof myself.