friendship among fools

From 1999 to 2000, I had the misfortune to have no peers nearby. I didn't actively engage with uninteresting people as peers, I just focused on myself.

From 2001 onwards, I decided that even if there were no interesting people around me, I could socially engage with communities and individuals who might benefit from my involvement. This heuristic has guided most of my social life since - and my commercial life too, since I regard commerce as a variety of society. 

Of course, I want to get paid too, but it's called social enterprise for a reason : I need to know what makes you happy, then we can talk shop.

Every now and then, one of my friends realises that I don't actually regard them as objectively interesting, but simply as the local society that happens to be easiest to engage with. Sometimes this has interesting consequences. Most of the time, it comes to nothing, as generally people don't think so highly of themselves that they believe themselves to be objectively interesting.