A good friend of mine from South Dakota was once visiting Miami and remarked: You are a homeless doctor, but you are always First Class.
My brother Eliyahu always prided that our Eastern background (Bombay, Cochin, Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Malaysia are all part of our past and some of them my present as well), and would say nothing but the best for us Orientals (mizrachi in Hebrew).
Dunbar number is attributed to the anthropologist Dunbar who estimated the number of social relationships our brains can accommodate without difficulty and with ease and comfort. It is generally agreed to be 150. This is your large circle, the number of "friends' you have.
My brother Eliyahu always prided that our Eastern background (Bombay, Cochin, Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Malaysia are all part of our past and some of them my present as well), and would say nothing but the best for us Orientals (mizrachi in Hebrew).
Dunbar number is attributed to the anthropologist Dunbar who estimated the number of social relationships our brains can accommodate without difficulty and with ease and comfort. It is generally agreed to be 150. This is your large circle, the number of "friends' you have.
- In a piece for the Financial Times (10 Aug 2018), titled 'Why drink is the secret to humanity’s success' Dunbar mentioned two more numbers: an inner core of about 5 people to whom we devote about 40 percent of our available social time and 10 more people to whom we devote another 20 percent. All in all, we devote about two-thirds of our time to just 15 people.
- My own interpretation after observing hunter-gatherers and other tribal members is that women are far more capable of more than the normal number of intimate relationships.
- I agree with the number 15 for women and 12 for men.
- But remember this research was done in "cold" "frigid" societies and they certainly did not know about CUBA
AH MY CUBA
In Cuba, I am overwhelmed by the number of good friendships you can constantly make . Because of the special circumstances, the Dunbar number for Cuba has to be close to 300 rather than the usual 150 and the intimate relationships would be more like 30
Over my long associationship with the island, I have made wonderful strong friendships and one of them is Dr Jorge Luis F S who is a psychiatrist by training and now is living in Buenos Aires. I can recall at least three times I had travelled to BA just to have hours long conversations with him.
My good friends Dr. EDD and Dra. LL have been great hosts during my visits, once again to spend time with them.
It is also good to know that expatriates (not emigrants or refugees) from that island nation also have the capacity for original thinking. Look at this short note from my good friend from BA ..
Pensaba sobre la división se las tres almas de Platón y su teoría q lejos de casa el alma apetitiva corría el riesgo de imperar...la instintiva..la más primitiva ..de satisfacción inmediata..alma vientre...jajaja no sería un acercamiento a la obesidad...q prima tanto en los desraizados..lejos de casa o de si mismo..etc. Te sirve la reflexión...? Pudiera ser un estímulo inicial para el público de una conferencia sobre obesidad...el construido sindrome metabólico..diabetes tipo 2....y la atorvastatizacion se la población..jajaja el neologismo es mío.
a vague translation
I thought about the division of the three souls of Plato and his theory that far away from home the appetitive soul ran the risk of reigning ... the instinctive ... the most primitive .. of immediate satisfaction .. belly soul ... hahaha would not be an approach to obesity ... that premium both in the rootless ... away from home or himself .. etc. Reflection serves you ...? It could be an initial stimulus for the audience of a conference on obesity ... the constructed metabolic syndrome ... type 2 diabetes .... and the population's atorvastatization ... hahaha the neologism is mine.
I truly like his mind, very curious and original.
Much of our thinking about the construction of the society especially when it comes to diseases and treatment, are congruous.
Metabolic syndrome was truly a construction and now we know that it has been abandoned, much like many of the constructions(supported by pharmaceutical or food companies): Low Fat Diet was very popular and now we know that it might be dangerous to your health, Multivitamins may not do any good, same goes with Probiotics now even lipsticks can be bought with probiotics.
It is well known that people when migrating tend to put on weight, my own interpretation is due to the stress of losing ones familiar ground, Cubans on the average put on about 12 lbs in their first year in Miami, and Guatemalans hit the scales around 25 pounds more?
It is nice to think about what Dr. Jorge Luis says... running away not only from the place but also from yourself ..
and the result is obesity..
I am giving a short conference in La Havana at the Annual Meeting of the Diabetes Association of Cuba as well as the Association of Latin American Diabetes Societies ALAD..
and the title of my talk appropriately is :
DIABETES AS A SOCIAL ILLNESS
Migration and Diabetes East Indians migrating to UK and USA
Oppression and Diabetes . Khmer Rouge and Cambodia
Marginalization and Diabetes . Mexicans in the USA
Colonization and Diabetes . South Pacific as well as Indigenous North American Indians
Coming back to the Island of Cuba, possibly the most educated country on this planet, is a wonderful resource for thinkers and brilliant minds
My good friend Dr. Jorge Luis F S who now lives in Buenos Aires is one of them.
(my neighbourhood in Vedado, La Habana, Cuba)
