Social Networks

I've got a new essay on social networks and the research of Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler in the latest issue of Wired:

There's something strange about watching life unfold as a social network. It's easy to forget that every link is a human relationship and every circle a waistline. The messy melodrama of life--all the failed diets and fading friendships--becomes a sterile cartoon.

But that's exactly the point. All that drama obscures a profound truth about human society. By...