Robert Putnam

Christiana, you ask lots of really good questions and they're all complicated. And I'm going to try.

Did you say Robert? No, it's Bob, please.

Did you say Robert? No, it's Bob, please.

I mean, if I get a call, a phone call, and the person says, Robert, I just hang up right away. If they know me, it's a nice screener I use as answering the phone. Okay, Bob, Bob. Okay, I want to say a couple of things about social media and virtual connections, and how they compare to real face-to-face connections, what some people call IRL, in real life.

I mean, if I get a call, a phone call, and the person says, Robert, I just hang up right away. If they know me, it's a nice screener I use as answering the phone. Okay, Bob, Bob. Okay, I want to say a couple of things about social media and virtual connections, and how they compare to real face-to-face connections, what some people call IRL, in real life.

When social media first came out, everybody thought it was you know, unbelievably great. World peace was going to break out. We would all have, and we would all be friends with each other because we were all connecting across. That always at that time seemed a little strange to me, but the academic work about that's true was always fascinating.

When social media first came out, everybody thought it was you know, unbelievably great. World peace was going to break out. We would all have, and we would all be friends with each other because we were all connecting across. That always at that time seemed a little strange to me, but the academic work about that's true was always fascinating.

more skeptical than the people who are making money by getting us onto their websites. Yeah, of course. But the real question at that point, if I can put it this way, was, is Facebook better or worse than bowling leagues? I'm using that as a synonym, I mean, just as labels for those two things.

more skeptical than the people who are making money by getting us onto their websites. Yeah, of course. But the real question at that point, if I can put it this way, was, is Facebook better or worse than bowling leagues? I'm using that as a synonym, I mean, just as labels for those two things.

And then he at one point said, well, OK, maybe Putnam is right, but we're going to create a new kind of Facebook that's going to be even super dandier. And it's going to be wonderful, even better than bowling leagues. But the academic research, I repeat, was always skeptical about that. But then came a terrible natural experiment, COVID. But now I promised you I was going to get more complicated.

And then he at one point said, well, OK, maybe Putnam is right, but we're going to create a new kind of Facebook that's going to be even super dandier. And it's going to be wonderful, even better than bowling leagues. But the academic research, I repeat, was always skeptical about that. But then came a terrible natural experiment, COVID. But now I promised you I was going to get more complicated.

But I can tell that Christiane likes to deal with complications, so I'm going to... I have so far been phrasing this problem as if the choice we had was between either face-to-face or social media, right? Yes. But actually, that's not true. Almost all of our networks today are simultaneously face-to-face and internet-based.

But I can tell that Christiane likes to deal with complications, so I'm going to... I have so far been phrasing this problem as if the choice we had was between either face-to-face or social media, right? Yes. But actually, that's not true. Almost all of our networks today are simultaneously face-to-face and internet-based.

My wife, Rosemary... and I do see each other a lot every day. That is, there is a face-to-face relationship there, but she has a different office than mine. And astonishingly, much of the time I sent her an email or sent her a text and she responds, it's not, we have one set of relationships that are face-to-face and a different set of relationships that are internet-based. They're the same.

My wife, Rosemary... and I do see each other a lot every day. That is, there is a face-to-face relationship there, but she has a different office than mine. And astonishingly, much of the time I sent her an email or sent her a text and she responds, it's not, we have one set of relationships that are face-to-face and a different set of relationships that are internet-based. They're the same.

And I want to use a metaphor here, if I can. In chemistry, we have the idea of an alloy is a mixture of two different base chemicals. like tin and copper, and you stir it and heat it and so on, and you get something that is neither tin or copper, but I never can remember, bronze or brass or something like that. Right. And brass is different from either the tin or the copper. Okay, so far so good?

And I want to use a metaphor here, if I can. In chemistry, we have the idea of an alloy is a mixture of two different base chemicals. like tin and copper, and you stir it and heat it and so on, and you get something that is neither tin or copper, but I never can remember, bronze or brass or something like that. Right. And brass is different from either the tin or the copper. Okay, so far so good?

Now what I'm saying is all of our networks today are alloys. So the question really is... How can we get an alloy that has the benefits of both? That is to say, could we find a way to create a network that has the advantages that the internet has of not depending upon space, but that has the advantages of face-to-faceness, namely you can actually get together and cooperate with somebody.

Now what I'm saying is all of our networks today are alloys. So the question really is... How can we get an alloy that has the benefits of both? That is to say, could we find a way to create a network that has the advantages that the internet has of not depending upon space, but that has the advantages of face-to-faceness, namely you can actually get together and cooperate with somebody.

Do we know how to do that? And the answer is we sure do. We know how to, for example, there are networks that are that are internet-based for neighborhoods. And it's easy to contact the other people. Just whenever you get the idea, you want to borrow a rake or something, you just send out an email. But then they're also in the neighborhood. So I could go and get the- You go get the rake in person.