The NPC Problem: Why Having 1,000 Followers Still Feels Like Total Isolation
8 min read You have hundreds of contacts, dozens of group chats and a full social calendar. And still, it sometimes feels like no one actually knows you. In this post, we explore Wang Yangming's radical concept of 'oneness with all things' — and why this 16th-century Neo-Confucian idea might be the most practical cure for modern loneliness. We have never been more 'connected'. And many of us have never felt more alone. This is not a paradox; it is a design feature. Digital connection optimises for quantity of contact, not quality of presence. You can accumulate 800 followers and still spend Friday evening in the peculiar loneliness of being technically surrounded while feeling genuinely unseen. The modern loneliness epidemic is not about social isolation. It is about the quality of contact: specifically, about whether your interactions involve real presence or the management of impressions. Other people have become, in many digital contexts, what gamers call NPCs...