Owen, Not convinced. I think you are describing "buddies," "colleagues", "acquaintances", ie, people with whom you share an interests in a relatively narrow context.
A friend, on my account, is a person with whom one shares committment to one another's mutual well-being, as well as many common interests, a division of labor, and means of solving interpersonal problems that arise. I certainly don't have 200 friends. N Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University ([email protected]) http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe] > [Original Message] > From: Owen Densmore <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]>; The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]> > Date: 11/25/2009 10:26:49 AM > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Dunbar numbers and distributions > > On Nov 25, 2009, at 10:17 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > > <snip> > > Nobody has a hundred friends, so the word, friend, is being > > extended in a creepy Orwellian way to include strangers. > > I disagree. I was surprised to find just how many work, family, > school, church, complexity, .. friends I *do* have. > > I just started facebook a few days ago, and I'm finding a huge number > of non-stranger, non-virtual acquaintances I have. I'm trying to keep > the list "quality" high .. i.e. only include folks who I really do > know and enjoy being in touch with. > > I'll easily top 200. So would anyone I think who's got diverse > contexts mentioned above. No strangers. And not including everyone I > do know just to keep the list tight. > > -- Owen ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
