Humans are genetically tribal creatures. For hundreds of thousadns of years homo sapiens have lived in small tribes. If we include the precursor part of the homo genus we've been living in tribes for millions of years. It's only in the last 100 or so years that we stopped living in larger units and started living with at best one other person in large houses not within walking distance of our community. It is certainly my opinion that living in a community is absolutely crucial to human flourishing, both on an individual level and on a societal level. I think almost all of us live better lives when we have a community, when we have people who we love and trust.

I have spent a lot of my free time trying to help increase the density of social ties and form community. Many of the adjacent nodes talk about specifics. I have pushed hard towards a wonderfual communal living house that has grown slowly but steadily and is filled with people who love spendign time together and are commited to being there for eachother. I hosted large dinner parties every other Saturday for years with the explicit goal of people forming connection with others at the party. And sure, some of this is because I genuinely enjoy spendign time with and meeting new people. And I'm sure not everyone gleans joy from discovering a new consciousness, after all the vast majority of the time it isn't one I would want to form a lasting connectuion with. I think that being with people, being connected, is truly wonderful. It's a lot harder than scrolling a feed showing "friends" curated life highlights, it's harder than swiping, but as much as it's harder it is oh so worth it. The payoff is huge, after all we are genetically predisposed to feel fulfilled surrounded by people we know deeply and who know us deeply. Put yourself out there! Host more! Call your friend! Take social risks!

I am bad at aspects of this too, I am terrible at keeping connected with people who don't live within 30 minutes of me. But, I think almost everyone would on the margin live a better life if they put more effort into community.