The six degrees of seperation is now three

o2.com

1 pointrobg3 comments

"For example, one of the respondents Katrina, 27 from Brighton, is a classical musician and leads a jazz band. She was asked to make contact with a Japanese jazz singer, Natsuo Murakami, halfway across the world. She contacted her record producer in Berlin via an email. He called his opposite number in Tokyo who had a register of all jazz singers in the country. Therefore making the link from Katrina to Natsuo in three personal steps."

Whether or not their conclusion is valid, that is a terrible example for making their case. I wonder how many steps it would have taken her to reach a 72 year old male working in a cattle processing plant in Arkansas. I suspect her record producer wouldn't be able to help her with that one.

Not only is it a bad example, it's cheating! The guy in Tokyo didn't know the target personally; he just looked him up in a register. The origin of "Six degrees of separation" presumes that each individual in the chain knows the next link personally.

Here's how the original experiment worked: "The recipient was asked whether he or she personally knew the contact person described in the letter. If so, the person was to forward the letter directly to that person." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_world_experiment )

separation, please....

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