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Although anyone stuck in dating hell probably finds it difficult to think about their situation as a boon to humanity, I want to take a few moments to praise dating as one of the key activities that shaped who we are as human beings. That's right-lowly dating turns out to be essential to our humanity.

To understand why, we need to look at how the size of our social groups plays such an important role in shaping who we are. One of the leading theories for why human beings developed large brains is called the social brain hypothesis. The idea is that the size of our social groups has played the essential role in pushing humans to develop larger brains. Many primates, such as chimpanzees, live in reasonably large troops, usually between twenty to fifty members. But no animal is more social and lives in larger groups than man. There are many advantages to larger groups, but there is one serious disadvantage: negotiating relationships with all the members of the group. Rewarding friends, seeking allies, and avoiding enemies all require more brain power as the group gets larger. Researchers have found that the larger an animals' group size, the larger the percentage of the brain devoted to the neocortex (the outer layer of the brain, which accounts for most cognitive abilities). For most mammals, the neocortex makes up 30 to 40% of the brain. For highly social primates, such as chimpanzees, the percentage rises to 50 to 65%. For humans, the neocortex takes up a staggering 80% of the brain (and our brains are seven times larger than you would expect for a mammal of our size).