24th Feb 2016 7:30pm-8:30pm
Sallis Benney Theatre
The rise of social media like Facebook brought with it the implicit promise of opening up new social vistas for us. By cutting through the limitations of the face-to-face world, you would be able to have thousands of friends scattered across the globe.
But has the promissory note on the tin can turned out to be true? I shall try to convince you that it hasn’t. The reason lies in large part in the way we create our friendships: it seems that nothing substitutes for meeting face to face and seeing “the whites of their eyes”.
Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of the British Academy. His research interests lie in the evolution of sociality, with particular reference to ungulates, primates and humans. He has been particularly interested in on the structure and dynamics of human social networks and their implications for community cohesion.
£6 / £3. Ages 14+.
Part of the Brighton Science Festival.
