Whether we appreciate it or not, we live out our lives surrounded by an intricate pattern of social connections... We're all embedded in this network; it affects us profoundly and we may be unaware of its existence, of its effect on us. Nicholas A. Christakis affectconnectioneffect share on social
I'm not suggesting that social scientists stop teaching and investigating classic topics like monopoly power, racial profiling and health inequality. But everyone knows that monopoly power is bad for markets, that people are racially biased and that illness is unequally distributed by social class. Nicholas A. Christakis badbiasclass share on social
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. Nicholas A. Christakis behaviorchallengecollective share on social
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. Nicholas A. Christakis connectcutdeep share on social
Just because we say networks are important doesn't mean that networks explain everything. We're just adding additional information. Networks don't work like a match - they work like a magnifying glass. Nicholas A. Christakis addadditionalexplain share on social
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. Nicholas A. Christakis entireexperiencegrow Change image and share on social
We cannot understand our humanity just by studying individuals. Nicholas A. Christakis humanityindividualstudy Change image and share on social
What constrains or enables the capacity of human beings to work in groups is not so much the technology, but rather the capacity of the human brain to have and monitor social interactions. Nicholas A. Christakis beingbraincapacity Change image and share on social
It used to be thought that our genes were historically immutable and that it was not possible to imagine a conversation between culture and genetics. Nicholas A. Christakis conversationculturegene Change image and share on social
It is time to create new social science departments that reflect the breadth and complexity of the problems we face as well as the novelty of 21st-century science. These would include departments of biosocial science, network science, neuroeconomics, behavioral genetics and computational social science. Nicholas A. Christakis 21stbehavioralbiosocial share on social