Dunbar's Number
Relationships with AI
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Friends,
Robin Dunbar is a British anthropologist who proposed that the “magic number” of people that you could have a stable social relationship with is 150. Through his studies of non-human primates, Dunbar is convinced that there is a ratio between brain sizes and group sizes.
Malcolm Gladwell says:
"The Rule of 150 suggests that the size of our brain limits the number of people with whom we can maintain close relationships. It’s the reason why people form close-knit social groups. Beyond this limit, social cohesion begins to break down."
Of course, this research emphasises a somewhat binary world - a world up and until the end of the last century - non technological world. A lot has happened since then - but I still believe in the premise.
Dunbar's number is derived from the size of the human brain's neocortex and its capacity to handle complex social networks. But what about social technology networks? How do you cater to having a massive following or dealing with a network of thousands of people you barely know? I don’t think that people really have the capacity to deal with fame or have meaningful extensive relationships with more than what Dunbar suggests. In reality, I think the quality of a smaller number of relationships is suited to more people. Can you have real deep relationships with more than five or ten people?
In an AI-enhanced world, the dynamics of social relationships can change significantly. AI tools, such as social media platforms, allow us to manage larger social networks than the traditional Dunbar's Number. We can keep track of more people through digital means, albeit these relationships may be less deep. And perhaps now that we are saying goodbye to the Web2 era, maybe we will start to revert to our real social network?
In historical contexts, the number of people an individual would meet and form relationships with varied significantly based on societal structure and technological advancements:
Hunter-Gatherer Societies: In these societies, people lived in small, nomadic groups, usually consisting of around 30-50 people, well within Dunbar's Number. These groups were tightly bonded, with each member having a clear role within the social structure.
Agrarian Communities: With the advent of agriculture, more stable and larger communities formed, but again, the number of stable relationships would be constrained by physical and cognitive limits
And I think we are coming to a new phase - beyond one that advanced through the telephone, internet travel, and the Internet. While AI can assist in maintaining and nurturing relationships through reminders, automated messages, and personalised communication strategies, potentially increasing the quality of interactions, we, as humans, are going to start a different relationship. We will start a virtual one - a relationship that Dunbar didn’t anticipate.
Alexa and Siri set the way, but we will see ourselves increasingly building relationships with AI.
We have been used to transactional relationships but as we use AI more and more, we start to build trust in the clarifying with a bot, the nuance of perfecting prompt engineering. As prompt engineering veers towards live back-and-forth conversations, we won’t realise that we are fine-tuning our [voice] prompts. They become like actual conversations. And they will exist in many places. Our requests for information or preference or tasks will blur with actual human to human communication.
As our preferences are recorded and our style of communication is noted - we will feel eerily comfortable with new “friends” who know us better than we know ourselves.
While Dunbar's Number historically reflects the size of communities and stable social networks in pre-modern times, the advent of AI and digital technology allows for the potential expansion of social networks, though often at the cost of the depth of individual relationships.
The fundamental premise of Dunbar’s Number is rooted in cognitive limitations. However, AI interactions present a unique challenge to this model. AI bots do not require the same cognitive effort as human relationships. They can provide companionship, emotional support, and interaction without necessitating emotional reciprocation or cognitive investment from the human user. This raises the question: Should AI interactions be included in the tally of Dunbar’s Number, or do they represent a separate category of social connections?
Humans have a remarkable capacity for adaptation. As AI becomes more integrated into daily life, our cognitive and social strategies may evolve. Future generations might develop new mechanisms to balance AI interactions with human relationships, potentially extending or altering Dunbar’s Number. This evolutionary perspective is essential for understanding the long-term implications of AI on social structures.
We may continue to be human - but we may have relationships with those who are not.
Stay Curious - and don’t forget to be amazing,
Here are my recommendations for this week:
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