Finding your soul mate isn’t that hard, according to the mathematics of networks. If we accept eHarmony’s premise that there are now 29 dimensions to compatibility, then from a probability standpoint, it’s mind-boggling that anybody finds a match. On the other hand, the person you’re looking for is also looking for someone that matches those 29 dimensions. So the process of finding “the one” isn’t quite like finding a needle in a haystack, but rather, finding a needle that is also trying to find you.

If there are six degrees of separation between everybody on the planet, and everybody is jumping from interest to interest, it shouldn’t take long for two people with the same patchwork of tastes to bump into each other. If every decision, from where to live (like Austin, TX), to when and where to shop for groceries (like the local co-op at 8 pm), represents a piece of self-expression, then two people fully expressing themselves in the same ways must cross paths quite often.

Our mating choices show incredible foresight. For example, mating outside one's race at one point was verboten, but those who dared do so had children who are now ready for a multi-cultural world, one that relishes the spectrum. Or mating with a nerd may have brought derision at one point, but whoever did so prepared their children for the world of today, where the creative class is supreme. Even though it seems like we mate according to whim, beneath that is a fiercely competitive genetic logic. Our genes take risks to ensure that in the race for better progeny, you won't just have the best shot today, but the best shot in a tomorrow created by everybody already taking their best shot.