Evanescence
Team Members: Zack Faulks, Sarah Kennedy, Ayana Madi & Stella Song
Abstract:
Evanescence is an online dating platform that allows people to connect with others from different eras. Evanescence becomes essential to discover new people during the COVID-19 pandemic which has unfortunately restricted face-to-face interaction. This is not like any platform you have seen before. Artificial intelligence is the face behind the magic, which will match your profile only if you are “worthy.” Essentially, there is no human contact involved in any of this platform, truly an introvert’s dream. As technology evolves, Evanescence could be paving the path to the future, where we are so consumed in our world that we no longer crave the need for human connection. This strange and unfamiliar state may eventually be the new normal.
The human connection seemed like it could never be de-familiarized or replaced by anything, until now. Physical interaction, especially, plays an essential role in keeping the intimate connection between each individual. By being involved in a face-to-face relationship, humans not only verbally communicate but understand each other by sensing the mood of the atmosphere through gestures, facial expressions, and body language. It means beyond ‘communication.’ However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, we are suddenly forced to be de-familiarized with face-to-face interaction. What seemed quite natural, such as social gathering or keeping a close distance with friends, all of a sudden became unnatural and unencouraged. Things we thought it could not be replaced by virtual meetings, like doctor consultations or arts education, are happening. And it is working to a certain extent.
The world of Evanescence puts together all the minor phenomena that occurred by the pandemic situation and the shifted human psychology. Although Evanescence fulfills the current needs and desires among the people, it does not mean that it would last forever. By the time Evanescence becomes familiarized by humans, other unexpected events may force them to move away from it, and it would soon be de-familiarized, too. And the cycle would repeat and repeat itself.