The Potency and Potential of Social Networks (with Nicholas Christakis)

Are your choices really your own — or are they quietly shaped by the people around you? Nicholas Christakis joins Igor and Charles to reveal the hidden power of social networks, from the surprising spread of kindness and cooperation to the ripple effects that shape our health, decisions, and even our wisdom. Igor uncovers the invisible social forces influencing our daily lives, Nicholas shares how our deep-rooted instincts for love, friendship, and teaching have shaped human civilization, and Charles considers how tapping into these instincts could help us build stronger, wiser communities. Welcome to Episode 64.

• Human Nature Lab | Yale University
• Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives (Book) | Nicholas Christakis
• Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society (Book) | Nicholas Christakis
• Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live (Book) | Nicholas Christakis
• The Hidden Influence of Social Networks (Ted Talk) | Nicholas Christakis
• ETH Global Lecture: Social Artificial Intelligence (2024) | Nicholas Christakis
• The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years - Christakis, Fowler (2007)
• Cooperative behavior cascades in human social networks - Fowler, Christakis (2010)
• Induction of social contagion for diverse outcomes in structured experiments in isolated villages - Airoldi, Christakis (2024)
• Gut microbiome strain-sharing within isolated village social networks - Beghini, Pullman, Alexander, Shridhar, Prinster, Singh, Juárez, Airoldi, Brito, Christakis (2025)