Originally posted on 4chan
Historically, the standard online identification format was “A/S/L”—age, sex, and location. Can this format be improved? I&a;m inclined to think that “age, gender, height, BMI, location” or “age, gender, height, BMI, race, location” (where gender includes physical/biological details) might be more useful for romantic purposes.
It also is somewhat amusing to imagine specifying how many bits of information you want in each component.
Age
Eight bits (in years)
Gender et cetera
Heavily provider&h;dependent
Two bits: Man/boy, woman/girl, or claiming to be something else? Two more bits: Gender matching chromosomes, transgender, or rare chromosome disorder that doesn&a;t correspond to a gender? One more bit: All&h;natural or surgically modified? (Insert jokes about leg&h;lengthening surgery, circumcision, etc.)
Height
Eight bits in centimeters or seven bits in inches
BMI
Six bits suffice for the integer part (in kg/m2). Maybe one or two more bits are desirable for the fractional part.
Race
Heavily provider&h;dependent
White (European), black (African), yellow (East Asian), brown (South Asian), and red (Native American), plus Pacific/Native Australian and maybe Middle Eastern/North African and Southeast Asian, fit into three bits. Maybe double it to allow for people who identify as mixtures of two races.
Location
One bit: Old World or New World (including Antarctica)? Two more bits: Africa, Europe, Asia, or Oceania? North America, Caribbean, South America, or Antarctica? Play twenty questions as long as you want to.