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Our pop culture preaches the “power of friendship,” but in these dire times, it’s important to understand what the phrase actually means. In physics, power has a specific definition: work over time, or more usefully, the rate at which energy can be transferred over a specific duration. As we face a global crisis due to our energy dependency, can we draw on this power in a real way to ensure the survival of humanity? Perhaps by understanding the true power of friendship in pop culture, we can, as a global society, learn how to effectively wield that power to solve real, global problems. And to achieve that understanding, we need math.