Uncountable? Really? You have as many relationships as the cardinality of the real line?
In that case you could end infinitely-many relationships and still have the same number left.
Snark aside, you’re just redefining what a relationship is. My friend may not behave exactly the same in various contexts, but he’s not a different person and it’s not a different friendship. I don’t have a thousand parents (or a thousand “parentships”) just because my two parents interact with me in different contexts.
A much better point to make would be that people manage O(N^2) friendship relations without apparent difficulty. Yet it seems pretty clear to me that a romantic relationship requires much more effort (more “emotional resources” we might say) than all but the closest of friendships.
I agree that we understand relationships differently. Whether that’s due to me “redefining” relationship away from some default baseline that previously existed, I’m less clear about, but I don’t suppose it matters much.
I agree that you don’t have a thousand parents. Neither are there twelve people in a quad. Whatever it is you’re counting, it isn’t people.
I agree that people manage lots of friendships without apparent difficulty, and I agree that most romantic relationships require more effort than most friendships. Whether that’s a better point to make, I’m less clear about, but I don’t suppose it matters much.
Uncountable? Really? You have as many relationships as the cardinality of the real line? In that case you could end infinitely-many relationships and still have the same number left.
Snark aside, you’re just redefining what a relationship is. My friend may not behave exactly the same in various contexts, but he’s not a different person and it’s not a different friendship. I don’t have a thousand parents (or a thousand “parentships”) just because my two parents interact with me in different contexts.
A much better point to make would be that people manage O(N^2) friendship relations without apparent difficulty. Yet it seems pretty clear to me that a romantic relationship requires much more effort (more “emotional resources” we might say) than all but the closest of friendships.
I endorse setting snark aside.
I agree that we understand relationships differently. Whether that’s due to me “redefining” relationship away from some default baseline that previously existed, I’m less clear about, but I don’t suppose it matters much.
I agree that you don’t have a thousand parents. Neither are there twelve people in a quad. Whatever it is you’re counting, it isn’t people.
I agree that people manage lots of friendships without apparent difficulty, and I agree that most romantic relationships require more effort than most friendships. Whether that’s a better point to make, I’m less clear about, but I don’t suppose it matters much.