How Our Friendships Define Us - And Why They're Dangerous | Yudhanjaya Wijeratne | TEDxColombo

Ever wondered how our immediate relationships like friends impact us? In this research-based talk, Big Data Researcher Yudhanjaya uses data from Facebook and local call data to prove the dangers of such relationships to advocate building networks on dissimilarity. Yudhanjaya has worn many hats over the years – from self-taught programmer to political blogger to tech marketer. In his current incarnation, he is an author and a researcher, part of the Big Data For Development team of LIRNEasia: he studies new technologies to analyze human behaviour at scale, working at the intersection of academia and public policy. He’s also part of a new wave of Sri Lankan and South Asian science fiction writers; his novels have gone on to become international bestsellers, and have been noted for their blend of hard science and the socio-political culture of our times. His work has been documented in everything from the Sunday Times to the Huffington Post. It is not quite clear where his job ends and his hobby begins; he prefers not to say. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx