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CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
Is there any truth in the Six Degrees of Separation?
- Thread starter HTacianas
- Start date
Resha Caner
Expert Fool
Right. The six degrees is a mathematical statement. It can be shown mathematically based on population size and the assumption that everyone in that population knows a minimum number of people how many relationships it takes to connect everyone. So, as the population size goes up, the number of connections needed increases. At some point the earth's population may reach a level that requires 7 degrees of separation.
This is also referred to as the "Kevin Bacon game", because of a running joke that appeared in things like the TV show Mad About You, wherein Kevin Bacon has supposedly worked with every major actor in Hollywood. There is actually a website where you can test out the theory: The Oracle of Bacon
Finally, I have personally experienced this. My kid's basketball coach was a staffer for U.S. Rep Ray LaHood, which then connected to Pres. Bush, and from there to a billion other people.
Another one. A friend of my kid had an aunt who played Nancy Taylor in Groundhog Day, which connects us to Bill Murray and a host of other celebrities.
Or ... I attended Iowa State University, and J.V. Atanasoff (inventor of the digital computer) taught there as a professor. So that connects me to all kinds of technical people ... though I don't have an Erdos number (a famous way for mathematicians to play the separation game).
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Per the OP, then, this is not a physical law. If some hermit isolates himself from society, the rule doesn't apply to him.
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Resha Caner
Expert Fool
True, though if the island had any value to outsiders their isolation wouldn't continue for long.
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