it's no more real than love.
just more victorian bullshit. just more neo-pagan revisionism.
that's not terrible, if we can find a way to see ourselves in the mirror. the problem is not that friendship does not exist, but that we continue to idealize it.
we should be approaching the idea of friendship as a myth, and seeking to debunk and understand it using the scientific method. once we've done that, we will no doubt learn that there's more to this arrangement than concentrated self-interest.
...that altruism does exist.
that it is rational.
and that a fair society can be built upon altruism as a replacement for competition.
but, so long as we perpetuate the childishness that friendship is possible, we will continue to evade a better future.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160505140917.htm