What is so modern about modern romance? Have we really entered a Brave New Weird World of infinite dating options, instant romance and sexting? A world where the mystery of love and the chemistry of romance can be calculated and commodified by algorithms?

You might think that when it comes to love not much has really changed. After all, as the old song puts it, ‘A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh./The fundamental things apply/as time goes by.’ Technology changes, but not the heart. 

If so, then I suspect you’ve never received a picture of a man’s penis on your smartphone or spent whole afternoons on Tinder – or any of the other numerous online dating sites – flicking through a thousand and one faces and typing messages to strangers across the globe.

The premise