Derek Thompson

And that woman has a crush on me.

And that place over there behind the rock has a very nice tribe and they're sometimes nice to our tribe and we can barter and trade and we can give them berries.

And maybe a lot of memory

is basically a function for being social at an evolutionary level.

And so in a weird way, priming that social engine by just being around people turns out to ironically have these protective benefits for our memory as we age much longer than our ancient ancestors.

I guess I wonder, how does that Rudyard Kipling just-so story sound to you, Dr. Weintraub?

I wonder if you think there are public health implications of findings like this and the one by Waldinger and Scholes.

We tell people that overeating is bad for them.

We tell them that sugar is bad for them.

Alcohol is bad for them.

Cigarettes are bad for them.

Environmental pollutants are bad for them.

Microplastics bad.

We're often very precise.

Don't do this.

Don't eat too much of that.

This is dangerous.

If it is true that social connections are mechanistically protective in this way, that like relationships are good for your brain,

Should we be telling people this in a more clear way, right?

Like face-to-face socializing is declining.