Dunbar's Number
Origin
In 1992, Oxford's Robin Dunbar analyzed 38 primate species — neocortex size strongly correlates with social group size. Extrapolating from human neocortex: about 150. Hunter-gatherer tribes, Roman centuries (100), average corporate department size, Facebook friend distributions — all stabilize near 150.
Meaning
You may have 1,000 SNS friends, but real connections cap at 150. A company that grows past 150 must split into departments (W.L. Gore corporate policy). Dunbar discovered the natural unit of human society.
Lesson — Meeting Eastern Classics
Analects 1.1: "Is it not joyful when friends come from afar?" Confucius did not number friendship. Dunbar measured that nature's limit exists — the size of the vessel of affection the human brain permits.
"限" combines hill (阝) with stopping (艮) — unable to proceed past the hill, a limit. Analects: "Know what you know, don't know what you don't." Acknowledging 限 is the beginning of all wisdom.
