sure, and there are obvious pitfalls, but IMHO it's much better than going to a 100+ dates and not reflecting on what went wrong/well after any of them.
Wow what a screed. Comfort-seeking through analysis, categorization, and grand theory of society based on personal experience.
It could be more valuable and interesting to just provide dating anecdotes. I’m not sure there’s value in presenting that experience as a half-digested diagnosis about what’s wrong.
Especially when it comes with so many hidden assumptions about how things have to be and the inevitable projections of their own experiences and expectations onto the lives of others.
I would imagine they linked it because it's a great read and they figured others would be interested. ACX is extremely well known around here, I'm surprised you're unfamiliar.
Scott runs creative writing contests for his readers, this was one of the finalists. I think you're reading far more seriously into a writing exercise than necessary, which I'd imagine is why you were left bothered by it.
Nothing new. It was not great 10+ years ago. I always found NYC to be a much more fun city in that regard. The Bay Area folks always had nothing better to talk about except work.