So wait, you're saying you're deeper than me.

Yeah, obvi.

I'm Angela Duckworth.

I'm Stephen Dubner.

And you're listening to No Stupid Questions.

Today on the show, do your friendships predict how successful you'll be in life?

My friends are all practically manic.

They're so, like, blah!

Also, how do different occupations correlate with happiness?

You were the bricklayer who was not building the temple of God.

You were just the bricklayer.

Yeah, I was just building the outhouse.

Stephen, I have a question that was tweeted at us by At Death by Fois.

Is the correlation of your five closest friends a real predictor of success and where you're going in life?

Oh, I like that question.

I can see why you like the question too, because I know that you care about and study friendship. So to me, there are two central questions we need to

try to answer there. One is whether there is a strong correlation between your friend group and your

future, and if so, whether there's something about that friend group that significantly

causes your future to change, or whether you choose friends who will fit the future that you're

planning.

Yes, I think that we should get to causality.

Once we get beyond correlation, that's, I think, the most interesting part of this question.

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