solving the loneliness epidemic should be a huge priority for most nation states, just a huge psychological and economic cost that we are silently bearing

Farcaster-native research: https://paragraph.xyz/@matthewb | prev. Juicebox, Nouns, RAW DAO | casting about coffee, hi-fi, and other rabbit holes

it’s a bit like asking how to solve for encouraging people to have kids… we shouldn’t really have to incentivize this behaviour, it’s natural.

so then the flip side is asking what is currently deterring this behaviour, and on the surface you might say social media algos, remote work, low wages and therefore lower discretionary spending.

but somehow those answers feel very incomplete, like we’re staring down a larger more insidious problem. why aren’t we friendly with our neighbours anymore? how do we fix something so fundamental as relating to one another?

when did we stop being friendly with our neighbours?

combo of identity politics + when it became okay to say the quiet part out loud and a lot of folks realized the possibility that their neighbours could have very different values than them (some of which remove bodily autonomy, right to get married, right for equal employment, etc)a

we’re busy af now and don’t have the time to invest in relationships that require learning to hold different viewpoints than others around you 

at least that’s me pre-coffee Saturday morning initial gut thought on this