“One reason citizens, politicians and university donors sometimes lack confidence in the social sciences is that social scientists too often miss the chance to declare victory and move on to new frontiers.” SometimesReasonMovingSocialChanceMissingVictoryCitizensPoliticianScientistUniversityFrontiersSocial ScienceDonorsNew Frontiers Author:Nicholas A. Christakis
“It is the spread of the good things that vindicates the whole reason we live our lives in networks. If I was always violent to you or gave you germs, you would cut the ties to me and the network would disintegrate. In a deep and fundamental way, networks are connected to goodness, and goodness is required for networks to emerge and spread.” IfsWayReasonWholeOur LivesCuttingGoodnessFundamentalsGood ThingsSpreadConnectedViolentTiesGerms Author:Nicholas A. Christakis
“The social sciences offer equal promise for improving human welfare; our lives can be greatly improved through a deeper understanding of individual and collective behavior. But to realize this promise, the social sciences, like the natural sciences, need to match their institutional structures to today's intellectual challenges.” NeedsHumansTodayIndividualSocialUnderstandingRealizingNaturalChallengesOur LivesPromiseOffersEqualBehaviorIntellectualStructureDeeperWelfareCollectivesImprovingSocial ScienceNatural ScienceDeeper Understanding Author:Nicholas A. Christakis
“The reason we form networks is because the benefits of a connected life outweigh the costs. It's to our advantage as individuals and a species to assemble ourselves in this fashion.” ReasonFormIndividualFashionCostBenefitsAdvantageSpeciesConnected Author:Nicholas A. Christakis
“We will create life from inanimate compounds, and we will find life in space. But the life that should more immediately interest us lies between these extremes, in the middle range we all inhabit between our genes and our stars.” ShouldLyingStarsInterestSpaceMiddleExtremesRangeGenesCompounds Author:Nicholas A. Christakis
“There are very fundamental reasons we live our lives in social networks and if we really understood the role they're playing in our society we would take better care of social networks and find ways to take advantage of their power to improve our society.” IfsWayReasonCareSocialRolesOur LivesUnderstoodAdvantageFundamentalsOur SocietySocial Network Author:Nicholas A. Christakis
“I like to have met someone in real life before being their Facebook friend.” RealMetsReal Life Author:Nicholas A. Christakis
“My entire youth was spent with an incredibly ill parent... I don't think you can grow up that way and not be marked by that experience.” ThinkingWayGrowsParentGrowing UpYouthIll Author:Nicholas A. Christakis
“It's fashionable to speak about vulnerable populations in medicine and public policy, but it's harder to find a more vulnerable population than those who are dying.” SpeakDyingPolicyHarderMedicinePopulationVulnerableFashionablePublic Policy Author:Nicholas A. Christakis
“Social media and the Internet haven't changed our capacity for social interaction any more than the Internet has changed our ability to be in love or our basic propensity to violence, because those are such fundamental human attributes.” HumansSocialAbilityViolenceMediaHavensChangedInternetCapacityFundamentalsSocial MediaAttributesInteractionPropensitySocial Interaction Author:Nicholas A. Christakis