A few recent experiences have got me thinking about friendships - a distant email-only friendship with a school classmate, friendship with an old female friend, the thought of moving and loosing local friends, and encounters with Claude, an AI. I don't know if I have lots of friends or few. I know the value of friends in my life but I find it hard to find the time for them.
After a lot of dithering, I've opted not to anchor on a single text, fiction or non- and come up with the following structure : I've focus on the work of two main writers Robin Dunbar and Noreena Hertz and watch Youtubes as an available alternative to books. Personal research is of course most welcome.
Intro - Friendship for us today
Personal reflections on friendship , its challenges, rewards and possibilites
The orgin of friendship
Robin Dunbar , he of Dunbars number is an evolution anthropologist, interested in the evolutionary origins of human behaviour Recent books include Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships and The Social Brain: THe PSychology of Successful groups See his Youtube Lecture on Evolution, Friendships and Health and The Evolutionary Psychology Of Human Friendship
Lydia Denworth's Friends is a less acedemic, more Americam take on the same territory
The Loss of friendship : the rise of loneliness
Starting at 9 minutes, Episode of More or Less on Suckerberg's claim that Americans fewer than 3 friends.
The more I looked at friendship, the more I found its antithesis. Many writers have looked at this social trend in young and old, its causes and cures : Gordon Brown (ex PM) The future starts with us, Bowling alone by Robert Putnum .
Noreena Hertz is British so her work seems more relevent . The Lonely Century: Coming Together in a World that's Pulling Apart with a Youtube interview
Understanding friendship today
Personal reflections on how these readings affect your attitude to friendships and civic society
Other reading
There is a industry of self-help books, going back to Dale Carnegie of course