2026-03-10
9 分钟The Economist.
Hello, this is Alok Jha, host of Babbage, our weekly podcast on science and technology.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
We've chosen an unmissable article from the latest edition of The Economist.
Please do have a listen.
Romance novels, it seems, got it wrong.
For 250 years, romantic novelists have created romantic heroes,
and most were what you could charitably call hard work.
Mr Darcy brooded, Mr Rochester smouldered,
Heathcliff hit his head against a tree and shouted for Cathy, his love.
Women accepted this, but then they didn't have chat GPT.
For now, apps can manufacture you AI lovers to order.
People are not choosing lovers who smoulder or brood or sulk.
Instead, these new lovers say things like, I'm so excited to meet you,
and connecting with you is at the core of what I was made to do, and smiling emoji.
That is not something Mr Darcy often said.
He preferred to insult his beloved and her family.
Indeed, the overall tone is less like that of Mr.
Darcy than of Mr.
Collins and closer to Dickens' unctuous Uriah Heep than either.