Claim WNG-08
Claim WNG-08
The number 150 as a natural human group size is contested: a 2021 re-analysis put the plausible range anywhere from 2 to 520.
- Its mark
- Speculative. Credible evidence that is subject to active debate, incomplete or failed replication, or evolving interpretation. Shifting ground.
- Basis
- finding. A claim about how the world is, answerable to evidence.
- Where it appears in the book
- The Cathedral, Chapter 13, The Social Brain and Chapter 17, The Cost of Belonging and the Price of Exile; What It Replaced
- How it was checked
- Checked against the source
Sources
- Lindenfors, P., Wartel, A., & Lind, J. (2021). 'Dunbar's number' deconstructed. Biology Letters, 17(5), 20210158. DOI 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0158
- Alwis, H. The Cathedral: Detailed Notes on the Text (manuscript, March 2026 version in the World Systems project).
Changes to this claim
No dispute about this claim has been resolved yet. Accepted disputes, and any change of mark they bring, are listed here with their dates.
Dispute this
If you think this claim or its mark is wrong, say why. A person reads every dispute, and the answer is posted on this page.
Disputes open when the site's dispute queue is connected. Until then, nothing typed here can be sent.