In ancient times, poets and songsters conveyed their loneliness via mildly creepy ladies named Eleanor, poorly branded hotels, and a hundred billion bottles that now constitute that vortex of plastic out in the Pacific Ocean. Some bellwethers among them took it to the next level, observing that love not only lives, dies, begs, bites, and stings, but also bleeds. Building on this pivotal research, advanced 21st century technologies involving quasi-sadistic experiments performed on college students now indicate that sustained solitude - whether self-imposed or inflicted upon us by others - impacts us at the level of our DNA, turning humans into sickly creatures who prefer playing Medal of Honor in their windowless lairs to actually engaging with other sentient vertebrates.
From Thoreau and Emerson to the elevation of cowboy culture, Americans have long idealized self-reliance. In contrast, our ancestors evolved to be dependent on small groups for their survival. Brought to you by The FORUM Network, this five minute excerpt featuring Harvard Medical School researcher Richard S. Schwartz (co-author of The Lonely American) introduces the biology of loneliness and why humans have evolved cellular mechanisms to make us feel lousy when we are cut off from others.
See here for the full length version of the talk featuring Schwartz and his co-author / wife, fellow Harvard Med psychiatrist Jacqueline Olds. It's super sweet that these two are married, though it does make us wonder (1) what they really know about loneliness and (2) whether they are in cahoots with the vast marriage-industrial complex. Singletons everywhere know that, in the battle to redefine "happily ever after", knowledge (plus a few zippy comebacks) is power. So to be on the safe side, keep this video away from your Aunt Marilyn, lest she start taking a scientific approach to her relentless why-aren't-you-married inquiries at the next family gathering.
