I got a lot from reading "Incognito" by Eagleman. It is my favorite book of the last year or so. So, I tried "The Brain" by the same author. It was ok but I was getting tired of it and was getting into the mood to drop it when I got to a section on the parts of our brains that are specifically for social things. I hadn't thought much about the social parts of our heads but the new section got me focused on a human life and the parts played by others than the individual.
I knew Mom and Dad had to get together to start me off. Getting together takes time and is not that all that easy. Both participants can back out, switch to others, run off, etc. I read that many animals are nervous about getting close enough to another to mate. A female praying mantis can eat her mate. The sexual partner might play rough and cut or bite or strike. For humans and other mammals, the mother has to be reasonably safe and able to last all the way through gestation and perform birth.
For babies and mothers, birth is just the beginning. Without Mom and breasts and care and warmth from another, the baby won't survive. I survived and so did you but only because of the care and feeding and attention and adjustment that others provided. I bet you have read of babies fascination with faces and voices. They don't know their own faces but they love to look at Mom's and to listen to her voice.
Eagleman and others make clear that humans are born to be aware of others of their species, to notice who is familiar and who isn't. Several parts of the brain are actually for recognizing faces and emotions. Parts of the brain begin the work of learning to talk and it is always a big deal when Baby says her first word. So, no wonder that lockdown and quarantine are a drag, no wonder that people are ready to bust out. It is easy to decide there is no stupid virus and if there is, it is somebody else's fault.
I thought I had seen a book by the title of "The Social Brain" but I found there are actually several books by that title or something like it. Americans have often admired the picture of Daniel Boone, out in the wilderness, where he don't need nobody but don't kid yourself - we do need others, we benefit from others and we have from even before we were born.
