Finding a 25 Percent Better Partner

About

Finding a 25% Better Partner refers to a series of jokes and memes parodying a post in which AI researcher and rationalist Eliezer Yudkowsky argues for partners being able to reserve an option for break up if they find meet who suits them better, agreeing on the minimum percentage of "better" in advance. The discourse went viral on X / Twitter in early February 2024.

Origin

On February 4th, 2024, rationalist Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote on X^[1] / Twitter that "in a world of greater legibility" romantic partners would discuss the option for breaking up if one found a prospective partner who suited them better by a certain percentage. The post (shown below) garnered over 2.2 million views, 830 reposts and quote posts, and 430 likes in 10 days.

Spread

On February 5th, 2024, X^[2] user @RuxandraTeslo posted a screenshot of the post, commenting, "This is such a cursed worldview." The post received over 280 reposts and 3,600 likes in nine days.

Starting on February 5th, users on X contributed to the discourse, posting arguments along with jokes and memes. For example, on that day X^[3] user @SCHIZO_FREQ made a humorous post that received over 20 reposts and 610 likes in nine days (shown below, left). Also that day, X^[4] user @visakanv made a post that garnered over 170 reposts and 3,000 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

More posts referencing the discourse were posted on X in the following weeks. For example, on February 6th, 2024, X^[5] user @MostlyMonkey posted a Freedom of Speech meme that received over 100 reposts and 2,200 likes in eight days (shown below, left). On February 8th, X^[6] user @IvyAstrix posted a Valentine's Day E-Card meme that received over 20 reposts and 220 likes in six days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References