The Evolutionary Story Of Human Friendship - Robin Dunbar - #604

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello, friends. Welcome back to the show. My guest today is Robin Dunbar. He's an anthropologist, evolutionary psychologist, head of the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group at the University of Oxford and an author. Most animals need friends to survive, but no other animal has as layered and complex a social life as humans. The last two million years, from trees to planes to apartments, has caused huge changes to the setup of our social groups, and it's a fascinating story. Expect to learn why any group size over 90 ends up with more people being killed than being born, why men don't have a best friend forever but women do, the link between human brain size and social groups, how male and female friendships differ, why the modern world has the most loneliness ever, what the single largest impact on your health is, and much more. Dunbar is such a legend. Man, I could speak to this guy all day. He's got a beautiful affect to him, this sort of gorgeous British tone. He sat there chilling out in his house, probably drinking a large glass of white wine as he regales me with stories of human friendships over the last two million years. It's absolutely brilliant. I really, really hope that you enjoyed this one. If you do, please hit the subscribe button, whether you are listening on Apple podcasts or Spotify or anywhere else, it really does support the show. It makes a massive difference and it makes me very happy indeed. So take five seconds and go and press it. I thank you. In other news, this episode is brought to you by Gymshark. I have fallen in love with Gymshark Studio Shorts. They are the best shorts for men that I have ever found. They are the perfect length. They are super lightweight. They are incredibly hard wearing and the colours that they come in are phenomenal. They've also got a Crest hoodie, which is amazing. It's super soft. I'm wearing it every single time that I fly. And their Geo Seamless t-shirts are also my favourite to wear underneath that. All of these and my favourite picks for women as well, including some leggings and a bunch of tops and cool hoodies and stuff are available to see right now. If you go to bit.ly slash shark wisdom, that's my super secret product page with everything that I wear and recommend. And you can get a 10% discount if you use the code MW10 at checkout. Plus there is a 30 day money back guarantee with free returns worldwide. That's bit.ly slash shark wisdom, the code MW10 at checkout. In other other news, this episode is brought to you by AquaTru. 60% of your body is made of water. And if you are like me, you probably don't trust your tap water. According to research by the environmental Working Group, virtually every home in America has harmful contaminants in its tap water. AquaTru is a four-stage purification reverse osmosis process. And it gets rid of 15 times more contaminants than ordinary pitcher filters. I'm looking incredibly carefully at the water that I'm consuming. But beyond all of this, beyond the fact that it removes over 80 of the most harmful contaminants known to water, it just tastes amazing. Properly reverse osmosis filtered water tastes fantastic. And one set of filters lasts between 6 months to 2 years and produces the equivalent of 4,500 bottles of water. You can get a $100 discount right now if you go to bit.ly slash drink wisdom. That's bit.ly slash drink wisdom. And in final news, this episode is brought to you by Keto Brainz. Keto Brainz Neutropic Creamer is the perfectly dialed beverage to bring you focus on demand. Start your day, conquer midday slumps, leverage it as a pre-workout, use it as a study aid, or simply brighten your day when you're experiencing brain fog. Keto Brainz Neutropic Creamer has efficacious doses of focus-inducing alpha-GPC, BDNF-producing lion's mane, alpha wave-promoting L-theanine, and ketone-stimulating C8 MCT powder. Keto Brainz tickles your neurotransmitters and optimizes your brain in just the right way, all focus and flow, no jitters, and no crash. Keto Brainz Neutropic Creamer is your coffee's favorite creamer. Your full-neutropic stack and your morning ketone body producer, all in one delicious little scoop. Also, you can get a 20% discount if you go to ketobrainz.com/modernwisdom, and use the code MW20 at checkout. That's keto, brainz.com/modernwisdom, and MW20 at checkout.
But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Robin Dunbar.
What is the social brain hypothesis for people that aren't familiar with it?

**Robin Dunbar** (4:59)
The social brain hypothesis is really an explanation for why monkeys and apes have much bigger brains than anybody else in the natural world, and why we, if you like, is the top end of the monkeys and apes family tree, have exceedingly big brains. And the question is, what do we use these big brains for and the social brain hypothesis says we use it to manage our relatively large, very complicated societies. It's that that allows us really to hold these things together as a coherent village to borrow an analogy, rather than sort of scattered individuals who never talk to each other.