"Although loneliness may be influence brain activity, the research also suggests that activity in the ventral striatum may prompt feelings of loneliness, Decety said. 'The study raises the intriguing possibility that loneliness may result from reduced reward-related activity in the ventral striatum in response to social rewards.'"
So it is not clear here what is cause and what is effect. It's time to set up an experimental study design
a young hacker might proactively seek the company of more human beings.
I'm puzzled here. I'm sure it's just an unfortunate turn of phrase, but you seem to suggest that the others are more human than the young hacker. Lovely.
Interesting play on the definition of "human" indeed. As a hacker myself I find that an interesting train of thought.
If you go by the popular definition for "human" that distinguishes us from the other mammals by defining us as "social beings" then that statement isn't even so far offbase. The process of [computer] hacking is often inherently unsocial after all. Yes, we do spend hours on end in front of a screen, often without or with only very little social interaction taking place.
So, technically, by that definition, our profession makes us less human than, say, a callcenter agent who talks to other humans all day.
Well, okay I admit that argument falls apart pretty quickly.
But interesting train of thought nonetheless...
You wouldn't have interpreted the sentence that way had I written, "a young hacker might proactively seek the company of more people," which was responsive to the main point of the article however I chose my vocabulary.
So it is not clear here what is cause and what is effect. It's time to set up an experimental study design
http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html
and see if that can be teased out. Meanwhile, a young hacker might proactively seek the company of more human beings.