{
  "id": 5535698,
  "title": "What a novel about a dating app for dead bodies reveals about human connection",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/04/what-a-novel-about-a-dating-app-for-dead-bodies-reveals-about-human",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-04T10:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Scientific American",
    "slug": "scientific-american",
    "url": "https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/what-a-novel-about-a-dating-app-for-dead-bodies-reveals-about-human-connection/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The debut novel \"For Human Use\" by Sarah Pierce imagines a future where a dating app matches users with dead bodies. The story follows a tech founder who convinces the world to adopt this app and a finance executive trying to stop him. The novel explores the mismatch between our desire for companionship and the superficial nature of supposedly social apps. It highlights how dating apps can create a false sense of ease in finding love, ultimately encouraging a superficial approach to relationships. The book also delves into the trend of teens using dating apps, questioning the appropriateness of their behavior.",
  "summary": "Author Sarah Pierce explores dating apps, loneliness and human connection through a novel about a corpse-matching algorithm",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}