# Do you know what Dunbar's Number is? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 20, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624 "2011-05-20T21:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/41 "2011-05-21T22:16:52Z")
Wasn’t completely sure that I was remembering the right Name’s number, so I Googled before voting. Like many others, I’d have been able to give a quicker answer if the question had been “do you know what the monkeysphere is?” Not that I remembered the actual number, but if I’d guessed, it would have been within an order of magnitude. Monkeysphere just sticks in the mind in a way that Name’s number doesn’t. I’d listen to a talk about it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/42 "2011-05-21T23:17:33Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Never heard of it. I knew something more-or-less evolution associated that **Colibri** didn’t? **high-fives self** \*\* looks around sheepishly\*\* ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/43 "2011-05-22T13:44:58Z")
Dunbar is the name of the “armored car” company that picks up our deposits where I work. I do not know there number. Shouldn’t you explain what you are asking? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/44 "2011-05-22T13:54:38Z")
I voted no, but, technically, I’m just unaware of the term, not the concept. [Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com) popularized it as your monkeysphere, and miscommunicated it a bit. (It’s not that you only care about 150 people, but that you can’t process an actual relationship with more than that. You can care at a deep level about people not in your monkeysphere.) EDIT: I see other’s beat me to the punch. But I’m leaving it. ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/45 "2011-05-22T16:17:15Z")
I voted no. But as others have said, I am familiar with the concept under a different name. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/46 "2011-05-22T17:45:15Z")
Yes, although I had to think for a minute. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > ETA: The Wikipedia page suggests it’s a pretty interesting concept. Has it gone up since social networking was invented? No. Dunbar’s number is tied to human cognitive capability, and as such, it’s going to take some serious evolution for it to change significantly. If you really dig into what’s happening on a site like Facebook, you see that while people have a lot of contacts, they only interact with a very small number of them on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/47 "2011-05-22T18:33:11Z")
I had just listen to a podcast about it a few weeks ago, otherwise I wouldn’t have known ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/48 "2011-05-23T14:38:35Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I thought it was a _Catch-22_ reference. Ditto and ditto to knowing the concept but not recognizing the name. Probably first encountered the concept in one of the books by Malcolm Gladwell. ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/49 "2011-05-23T15:09:56Z")
I thought it might be the area phone dialling code for Dunbar in East Lothian, Scotland, about 30 miles from where I am sitting in Edinburgh. But that turns out to be 01368. [http://www.ukphoneinfo.com/search.php?GNG=Dunbar&d=nl](http://www.ukphoneinfo.com/search.php?GNG=Dunbar&d=nl) ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/50 "2011-05-23T15:13:29Z")
Right, now I have looked it up I had heard of the concept before but not with that term applied to it. I have always known it in the context that throughout military history, the smallest military unit has always been around this number - equivalent to a modern infantry company. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/51 "2011-05-23T16:29:12Z")
I voted “no”, but upon looking it up in Wikipedia, I realized that I _had_ heard the term before, when I read _The Tipping Point_. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/52 "2011-05-23T20:32:49Z")
Nope. This is new to me. Although I will bet I’m below the norm, as I don’t Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/53 "2011-05-23T21:36:00Z")
If you look in the phone book for any major city, you can find the number of quite a few Dunbars. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/54 "2011-05-28T00:10:31Z")
> [@notquitekarpov](#): > > I thought it might be the area phone dialling code for Dunbar in East Lothian, Scotland, about 30 miles from where I am sitting in Edinburgh. > > But that turns out to be 01368. Which, if you multiply the digits 1_3_6\*8 gives you 144, the number closest to 150 with an integer square root! Coincidence? You be the judge. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/55 "2011-05-28T03:02:38Z")
I’d never heard of it, although I see it was coined by Robin Dunbar, author of “The Trouble with Science”, which I own, and formerly of Liverpool University, my Alma mater. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/56 "2011-05-28T22:11:28Z")
Upon Wikiing [Dunbar’s Number](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_Number), I find I am fairly familiar with the concept (and the fact that it is supposedly about 150), but I did not know it by that name. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/57 "2011-05-28T22:46:28Z")
Yes, but I was an anthropology major. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/58 "2011-05-29T17:24:59Z")
I’d never heard of it–neither by name, nor the concept. My precognitive powers are sensing several hours about to vanish down the google/wikipedia hole. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/59 "2011-05-30T07:36:24Z")
So, how’d the talk go, **athelas**? Or didn’t you give it yet? ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624/60 "2011-05-30T08:53:12Z")
Ha, and just today, the [arXiv blog features an article](http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/) about Dunbar’s number in the light of modern social networking, especially wrt Twitter. Though the conclusion is not really all that much of a shocker… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-dunbars-number-is/582624.md?page=2)