You May Ignore People

separated from you by "four degrees of separation" or more.

I learned this from the documentary on happiness referenced in the previous post.

We apparently benefit from our friends' happiness (so pull for them!). We get a 15% boost in our own happiness from the happiness of friends at one degree of separation.

Then the percentage declines with each further degree of separation.

And by the time you get to the fourth degree, the benefit is nil.

So fuck those people.

Forget all that shit the Buddha and J.C. said about universal compassion.

Because it's economically fucked advice.

Proven. Scientifically.

It couldn't be any more convincing to me if Bill Moyers said it himself (and by the way PBS included his son, a former crack addict, in this documentary--talk about not shitting where you eat!)