Friendship Deficits

I'm not sure, but I suspect that I'm running a friendship deficit—that I need my friends more than they need me.

In a naively romanticized world of "pure" and unconditional love, you would never have occasion to think of such things: friends are always there for each other, no matter what, and no one would dream of anything so monstrous as consciously evaluating whether it's worth maintaining a friendship given the costs and benefits of doing so (including the opportunity cost of forgoing something else that could be done with the same amount of time and attention).

And in a world of Bayesian expected-utility-maximizing decision agents, there would be no loyalty and no concept of friendship.

Part of the beauty of our world is that it lies somewhere between the two extremes, but that we don't know exactly where.

2 thoughts on “Friendship Deficits

  1. I think a lot of people would agree with this post.
    It's part of the give and take of human relationships.
    Sometimes friends are friends, sometimes they can't be found.
    Other times I'm called upon to be a friend, sometimes I can't be dragged down.

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