Olivia: What's more dangerous to your health: smoking 15 cigarettes a day or being lonely? Jackson: Okay, that sounds like a trick question. Obviously, the cigarettes. Right? Olivia: You'd think so. But the science is in, and the answer is going to surprise you. It turns out, loneliness is statistically just as lethal. And it's a full-blown public health crisis we're barely talking about. Jackson: Whoa. That is a heavy way to start. You’re saying being lonely is as bad for my body as a pack-a-day habit? That can't be right. Olivia: That's the central, shocking premise of The Lonely Century by Noreena Hertz. And what makes her argument so powerful is that Hertz isn't just a sociologist; she's a renowned economist who advises major corporations and governments. Jackson: Ah, so she’s not just looking at this as a feeling. She’s looking at it as a system. Olivia: Exactly. She’s coming at this not just as a personal tragedy, but as a fundamental flaw in our modern economic and political systems. It’s a perspective that really sets this book apart and makes it feel incredibly urgent.

Jackson: Okay, so if it's a crisis, how bad is it really? We're not just talking about feeling a bit sad on a Friday night, are we? Olivia: Not even close. Hertz paints a picture of a world where loneliness is driving people to the most extreme, almost unbelievable, behaviors. She tells this one story from Japan that I just can't shake. Jackson: I’m ready. Hit me with it. Olivia: In Japan, crimes committed by people over 65 have quadrupled in the last couple of decades. And when researchers looked into it, they found something astonishing. Many elderly women were committing petty crimes, like shoplifting a few grapes, on purpose. They wanted to get caught. Jackson: They wanted to go to prison? Why on earth would anyone do that? Olivia: For the community. One woman, a composite character Hertz calls Saito-san, was a widow. Her kids were too busy, her pension wasn't enough, and she was utterly alone. She said prison was an 'oasis.' She had food, she had care, but most importantly, she said, 'There are always people around, and I don’t feel lonely.' Jackson: That is absolutely heartbreaking. To choose prison over freedom just for a bit of human contact… it’s dystopian. Olivia: It is. And it's not just the elderly. Hertz also explores what she calls the 'Loneliness Economy.' She actually went on the website Rent-a-Friend and hired a companion for an afternoon in Manhattan. Jackson: You can do that? You can just… rent a person? Olivia: For about $40 an hour, yes. And she asked her rented friend, a 23-year-old named Brittany, who her typical clients were. And it wasn't who you'd expect. Brittany said they were mostly 'lonely, 30- to 40-year-old professionals. The kind of people who work long hours and don’t seem to have time to make many friends.' Jackson: Wow. So it’s the successful, busy people. The ones who look like they have it all together. Olivia: Exactly. So this isn't just about lacking friends. Hertz is arguing it's a structural failure. She traces the roots back to the rise of neoliberalism in the 80s, with leaders like Margaret Thatcher famously saying there's 'no such thing as society.' Jackson: 'There are only individual men and women.' I remember that quote. Olivia: And Hertz argues that for forty years, we've built our world around that idea. We've prioritized individualism, competition, and self-interest. We've become consumers first and citizens second. The result is a society that is incredibly efficient, but also atomized and profoundly lonely. Jackson: That’s a huge claim, to blame capitalism itself. I know some critics of the book have pushed back on that, saying it’s a bit too simplistic, especially when you see loneliness in non-neoliberal countries like Japan. Olivia: It’s a fair critique, and she does acknowledge other factors. But her core argument is that this particular brand of capitalism has stripped away our social safety nets—our community centers, our unions, our stable jobs—and left us feeling like we're completely on our own. It creates the perfect breeding ground for isolation.

Jackson: Okay, so the economic system creates the foundation for loneliness. But what about our daily lives? Hertz talks a lot about technology and the design of our physical world, right? The things that are supposed to be connecting us. Olivia: She does, and it's full of these fascinating paradoxes. Take the modern workplace. The open-plan office was sold to us as a tool for collaboration and connection. Jackson: Right, tear down the walls, and everyone will magically start sharing ideas. Olivia: Well, a Harvard study found the exact opposite happened. When companies switched to open-plan offices, face-to-face interaction plummeted by over 70%. And what replaced it? Email and instant messaging. Jackson: That is so true! It’s like being at a loud party where you can't have a real conversation, so you just put in your headphones and text people. That's not connection, that's just… proximity. Olivia: Precisely. It creates what Hertz calls a 'psychological wall.' And it gets worse with things like hot-desking, where you don't even have a permanent spot. She tells the story of a manager named Carla who had an operation and was off work for a month. No one from her team even noticed she was gone for weeks. Jackson: That’s brutal. You’re literally invisible. It’s efficiency at the cost of humanity. Olivia: And that efficiency is enforced by what Hertz calls the 'digital whip.' She describes Amazon warehouses where workers are tracked by a handheld device. Every second is monitored. Talking to a coworker is logged as 'idle time' and can get you in trouble. Jackson: So the system is actively designed to prevent human connection because it’s seen as inefficient. Olivia: Yes. And it extends to hiring. Hertz went through a virtual interview with a company called HireVue, where an AI analyzes your facial expressions, your tone of voice, and your word choice to decide if you’re a good fit. There's no human, just an algorithm judging you. It’s the ultimate form of alienation. Jackson: That sounds like a sci-fi horror movie. You're being judged by a machine that can't understand context, or humor, or a bad day. It’s a black box. Olivia: A black box that is deciding the fate of millions of job applicants. And this is the world we're building: contactless, automated, and hyper-efficient. But the human cost is a deep and pervasive loneliness. Even our physical spaces are designed to keep us apart. Jackson: You’re talking about 'hostile architecture,' right? That’s a great phrase. What does that actually look like? Olivia: It’s benches with armrests in the middle so homeless people can't sleep on them. It's spikes on ledges to stop people from sitting. It's even high-pitched sounds that only teenagers can hear, designed to keep them from gathering in public squares. It’s all these subtle, and not-so-subtle, cues that say: 'This space is for moving through, not for lingering. Not for connecting.'

Jackson: This is all pretty bleak. Does Hertz offer any hope? Can we actually fix this, or are we doomed to rent robot friends and be interviewed by AI forever? Olivia: She is actually very hopeful, which is what makes the book so compelling. She argues that just as we designed this lonely world, we can redesign it for connection. And she provides these incredible, real-world examples. Jackson: Okay, I need some hope. Let's hear one. Olivia: My favorite is the story of Barcelona's 'Superblocks.' The city took a radical approach to urban planning. They took nine-block grids in different neighborhoods and banned most through-traffic. They ripped up the asphalt and turned the streets into pedestrian zones with playgrounds, benches, and community gardens. Jackson: So they literally gave the streets back to the people. What happened? Olivia: At first, some people were furious. They were used to driving everywhere. But then, something amazing happened. A resident described it as a 'slower rhythm of life.' He said, 'You rediscover your area, and your neighbours.' Kids were playing in the streets, elderly people were sitting on benches, and foot traffic and cycling shot up. They engineered a space for spontaneous connection. Jackson: That’s incredible. They traded a little bit of car convenience for a whole lot of community. What else? Olivia: She also points to Rwanda. After the horrific genocide in 1994, the country was shattered. Neighbor had turned against neighbor. To rebuild trust, the government reinstated a tradition called 'Umuganda.' Jackson: What's that? Olivia: It translates to 'coming together in common purpose.' On the last Saturday of every month, for three hours, community service is mandatory for every able-bodied citizen. Everyone from the president to a local farmer gets out and works on public projects—building schools, cleaning streets, planting trees. Jackson: Mandatory community service? For the whole country? Olivia: Yes. And after the work, there's a mandatory community meeting where neighbors discuss local issues. Hertz argues it's been vital in rebuilding the social fabric of the country because it forces people from all walks of life to work together and see each other as fellow citizens. Jackson: That’s a powerful idea. But a mandatory community day… could that ever work in a highly individualistic society like the US or the UK? It feels like a huge cultural leap. Olivia: And that's exactly Hertz's point. She argues we need both. We need top-down government initiatives that create the structures for connection, like Barcelona's Superblocks. But we also need bottom-up, individual action. We have to choose to participate. We have to choose to be citizens, not just consumers.

Olivia: Ultimately, Hertz's argument is that we've spent forty years optimizing our world for individualism and efficiency. The result is a system that's incredibly productive but also profoundly lonely. The cost of that loneliness, as we saw, is a health risk equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Jackson: It really makes you rethink what 'progress' even means. We have smartphones that can connect us to anyone on the planet, but we feel more alone than ever. The book leaves you with a big question: What are we willing to sacrifice for genuine connection? A little convenience? A little efficiency? Olivia: It’s a powerful question. She argues we need to reconnect capitalism with care. That means businesses prioritizing employee well-being over pure profit, and governments investing in public spaces and social safety nets. But it also means us, as individuals, choosing to show up. Jackson: Choosing to talk to the barista instead of scrolling on our phone. Choosing to support the local shop instead of the faceless online giant. Choosing to check in on a neighbor. Olivia: Exactly. The antidote to the Lonely Century, she says, can only ever be us being there for each other. It’s not a simple fix, but it’s a hopeful one. Jackson: It really is. We'd love to hear what you all think. What's one space in your life—digital or physical—that feels surprisingly lonely, a place that should feel connected but doesn't? Let us know on our social channels. We're genuinely curious. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.