Friends make us smarter and gave us more potential Biologically, our ability to develop and maintain social connections is directly related to the size of our brain. Our ability to form relationships with people who aren’t related to us, is a critical skill that helped turn us into humans. It’s a fundamental part of who we are. Scientists have corroborated that our larger brains are primarily a social versus ecological adaptation. Our survival is quite literally dependent on having close friends who can support you through the hard times. And having friends with different specialties, interests, strengths and weaknesses can help us test out ideas and develop our character by giving us a safe space to experiment. Friends with different talents can help us realize our own potential. Social integration and close relationships are the most important predictors of mortality, well above things like alcohol consumption, exercise and diet (The Friendship Cure, Kate Leaver). We also have to try out many friends to find the ones who stick, and weed out the ones who turn out to be bad for us. via Facebook https://bit.ly/2Wjs98n