Ladies and gentlemen, Aziz Ansari.
This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedanta.
Last year, I was asked to host an event in Washington, DC, with the comedian Aziz Ansari.
You might know him as Tom Haverford from Parks and Recreation, or you might be binge watching his original series on Netflix, Master of None.
What you might not know is that Aziz is also interested in human behavior.
Hes thought about how social norms have changed the way people get together.
Hes studied how romantic preferences have changed over time.
And hes examined how online dating is linked to the psychological phenomenon known as the paradox of choice.
Like, theres just too much goddamn jam out there.
Like, theres iPhone apps that literally tell you if theres jam nearby that wants to get eaten at that very moment.
I mean, what can you do?
Aziz has co written a book with the sociologist Eric Kleinenberg.
It's called Modern Romance.
We taped a live conversation at George Washington University's listener auditorium, and we played an excerpt for you in the fall.
We are working on new podcasts this week, and we thought you might enjoy this encore presentation.
If you know anything about Aziz, we don't need to tell you this episode is going to be a little racy.
If you're in the car with kids, you might want to save it for later.
I want to jump to one particular section that you start right at the top of the book, looking at ways in which people text one another.
Sure.