The Cary Harrison Files:
I’m live today from the jungle of Yalapa, Mexico! Flash is in LA, so, we’re covering the whole sphere together.
Well, you, poor denizens of the modern dating jungle, listen up: Once upon a time, a man could meet a woman at a soda fountain, fib about his job, and both parties would call it a day. Now? You can swipe right on a "yoga instructor" who turns out to be a 47-year-old chain-smoking cat burglar from Dayton. Progress, they called it.
Tonight, we’re talking about a brave new attempt to fix the great mess that dating apps have made of courtship — not by restoring honesty, which would be a miracle, but by enforcing it, through technology, shame, and medical records.
Enter PlumCheck: a platform so practical, so overdue, it’s a wonder we didn’t already have it before we had 17,000 variants of TikTok dances. Founded by Dr. Céline Gounder and Josh Karetny, who each got mugged by reality in the Wild West of online dating, PlumCheck aims to give you what you've been too polite — or too afraid — to ask for: actual verified information about the stranger who's promising you "long walks on the beach" but might actually have a rap sheet longer than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Verified names. Real ages. Real health statuses. Vaccinations. Medications. STD testing. The works.In short: less guesswork, fewer horror stories, and maybe — just maybe — a few more real dates that don’t end in a police report or a blood test.
Dr. Celine Gounder and Josh Karetny now join us. Josh went from a U.S. Senate office to a $40 million health tech startup, he’s built and run organizations, and has a Passion for innovation and disruption. Gounder is the Editor-at-Large for Public Health at KFF Health News and a CBS News Medical Contributor. You’ve seen her on CNN, read her in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker — basically, if the world's falling apart, she's explaining why. She’s a practicing infectious disease doctor at NYU’s Bellevue Hospital, served on Biden’s COVID Advisory Board, fought Ebola in Guinea, treated patients from the Navajo Nation to New York City. In short: if it's contagious, deadly, or drowning in disinformation, Dr. Gounder’s been in the thick of it. They join us now to talk about PlumCheck — and whether technology can salvage modern romance before it collapses under the weight of its own absurdity.
Please listen above to enjoy the discussion. (Also, full transcript available elsewhere on this page)
Dr. Celine Gounder & Josh Karetny, So tell us—what moment of existential despair convinced you PlumCheck had to exist?
Dr. Celine Gounder & Josh Karetny, We've had dating apps for decades. Why has nobody bothered to fix the basic problem of "who the hell am I talking to" until now?
Dr. Celine Gounder & Josh Karetny, Your first users are going to be gay men — is that because they’re the early adopters, the realists, or just the ones with the best stories?
Friends, I hope you will join David on both Public Radio Stations & YouTube and consider becoming a paid subscriber to keep this Red-State-banned content going. I thank you
Dr. Celine Gounder & Josh Karetny, Privacy’s a beast with many teeth. How do you plan to tame it, especially with HIPAA lurking in the background?
Dr. Celine Gounder & Josh Karetny, Let’s get clinical for a second: A negative STD test from last week doesn’t mean you’re in the clear today. How do you expect users to read that information without getting lulled into a false sense of security?
Dr. Celine Gounder & Josh Karetny, Once you get basic verification nailed down, what other features are you itching to add to PlumCheck? Lie detectors? Tarot readings?
Dr. Celine Gounder & Josh Karetny, Could PlumCheck eventually move beyond dating into the wider world — roommates, business partners, politicians maybe? (God knows we could use it.)
Dr. Celine Gounder & Josh Karetny, You’re launching in New York City first. Is that because it’s the best proving ground, or just because nowhere else is quite as insane?
Dr. Celine Gounder & Josh Karetny, There’s a certain romance, ironically, in trusting a total stranger. Are you worried your app might kill what little magic’s left in meeting someone new?
Dr. Celine Gounder & Josh Karetny, If people want to actually trust their next date — or at least verify they’re not talki
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