In Japan, incommunication currently benefits from a certain preference: electronic interfaces, in which personal expression has been replaced by a compendium of prewritten words and standardized emoticons, allow the use of established formulas to “prevent misunderstanding.” To “reduce the distance between people” and to facilitate exchange, some engineers have also developed prototypes of machines programmed to substitute for humans in their interaction. In matters of love, these systems take a variety of forms: a touch-screen program for finding a perfect match, a “love-at-first-sight” detector, or a matchmaker robot…. Deliberately designed as a “screen,” in the literal sense of the word, these digital tools are considered to be especially useful because they relieve individuals of the burden of free and contingent speech. In a reversal of the “liberal” idea that individuals are autonomous, competitive, and responsible, the adepts of computer-assisted dating espouse the virtues of irresponsibility, artificiality, and anonymity, contrary positions that they hold to be the ultimate guarantee of the best of all possible human interactions. What should we make of this?