6 degrees of separation theory

[quexos]

I just read an intriguing article on the very serious BBC site about the 6 degrees of separation theory linking everyone on earth. This article gives credit to the theory by quoting an experiment made by People over at Microsoft.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7539329.stm

Anyways what do you guys think of that theory ? personally I can't make head or tails of it. I mean according to that theory, I know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows the president of the United States
Also I know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows Osama Bin Laden etc ...

Well you get the idea behind that theory

[Anthony P]

Well you get the idea behind that theory

I don't think it is a theory, I don't think anyone believes that 6 is the magic number that links any two people on Earth.

As for MS thing

1) not everyone is on MS live (by definition linking people in remote different areas like someone that lived his whole life in an igloo in the far north or tribe-man in the forests of the Amazon or in Africa...) would be the hardest and would not show up in their test (since they are not likely to use PCs and PM)

2)do you only PM/send letters to people you know? (let's face it by their assumption if you send an email or letter or PM to the president by that definition you have 1 degree of separation

3) do you PM contact everyone you know every month? you could end up with 10 degrees of separation on a relative that you just did not PM that month.


On a separate note, now this is not aimed at MS directly since I am sure it would be as true for emails and PMs using other tools, does anyone else think it is scary that MS could (and did) gather and analyse your sphere of friendship.

[arush5268d]

There's been a lot of different projects about this theory. There was one on Facebook.com and a big e-mail chain thing a while back. In order for a study to prove that this is true to work...people would have to be on board in a massive scale.

[PS3-Playb3yond]

LOL! There was a show called 6 degrees back in 2006 but it got cancelled. Same idea: -

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0801427/

Whom will you touch in life? Who will touch you? They say that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person through a chain of six people, which means that no one is a stranger... for long. In this new drama from the producers of "Lost" and "Alias," six very different New Yorkers go about their lives without realizing the impact they're having on one another - yet. A mysterious web of coincidences will gradually draw them closer, changing the course of their lives forever. Is it happenstance? Is it fate? Is there a greater force at work in our world, guiding us along and connecting our lives? Laura, a grieving single mother, begins the chain. Next is Whitney, the self-made success story who thinks her boyfriend is cheating. Move on to Steven, the artist/photographer who believes he's lost his "eye." Follow with Damian, who can't escape his criminal brother's shadow, then on to Mae, the girl with a dangerous past that she's hiding from, and finally to Carlos, the good guy with a crush who doesn't know what he's in for. This intriguing tale of intertwined destinies reminds us that romance, success, peace or forgiveness might be right around the corner, but they can also be lost in an instant. It's a story that underlines just how small the world really is, and how someone just five people away might be shaping your future right now.

Never watched it though but it looked interesting. And I'd say BBC copied it from the show lol.