Is there any truth in the Six Degrees of Separation?

Resha Caner

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Do you believe that you are no more than six degrees away from anyone else in the world?

I think it depends on how you define a "social connection".

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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Chesterton

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True, though if the island had any value to outsiders their isolation wouldn't continue for long.
Maybe someday Kevin Bacon will film a movie there. Then we can all sleep well knowing we all almost know Kevin Bacon.
 
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