We often see loneliness as a weakness. People who are lonely are seen as being needy because they cannot function well without social interaction. However in Loneliness by John T. Cacioppo we see that being lonely is as natural to humans as being hungry or thirsty. This compelling look at a hard to define emotion is really spot on about how debilitating loneliness is and how common it is. Loneliness is a survival mechanism for keeping our species together. One of the more interesting points Cacioppo makes is that even though we don’t fully understand loneliness we have always understood that we can use it as punishment. For children, when they are bad, they get a time out. For adults, in prison, they get solitary confinement. We would rather interact with the most violent of their fellow humans than be isolated.
ED 02/2011

Cacioppo and Patrick attack the received idea that social connection and empathy are the luxuries we annex onto our workaday existence, and instead show them as essential for human life. Through neuroscience and psychology they argue that empathic connection is something that life thrives on and, conversely, how the lack of these crucial parts of being lead to a miserable and shorter time on earth. They set a challenge to a world that is populated increasingly by isolated individuals, live and connect more or face the consequences. ( )

Discussed in interview between Kerry Howley and Cacioppo on an episode of Free Will on bloggingheads.tv. Sounded interesting. So far so good.