Love functions as the nuclear fuel that powers happiness—love and fear are opposites, with love as the fundamental driver that makes life worth living. Longitudinal research tracking people into their eighties and nineties consistently finds that the happiest individuals cultivated real love relationships throughout their lives. This isn't romantic sentiment but empirical fact about what sustains human wellbeing.

In the age of AI, person-to-person connections become more valuable. Life goes better when you see from others' viewpoints. AI can't touch human "me-ness"—our consciousness and inner life make us greater than what overwhelms us. True empathy requires understanding that human conversations are often about projection revealing our tendencies, expectations, and desired relationships.

Creating balanced power dynamics in human connection through mutual respect rather than hierarchy. Horizontal relationships treat people as equals deserving dignity regardless of status. Vertical relationships emphasize power differentials and transactional exchanges. The choice between these paradigms shapes all interactions from parenting to leadership to friendship.

Working with the same people over decades creates compounding knowledge where everything you've learned about each other makes communication faster and collaboration more effective. Like compound interest in finance, repeated interactions build shared context, shorthand, and trust that amplify future interactions. The returns to long-term relationships are exponential, not linear.