It's A Small World After All
January 14, 2003 8:03 PM Subscribe
Stanley Milgram invented the term "six degrees of separation" after discovering in an experiment how closely interconnected social networks can be. The "six degrees" concept also inspired a play, a film, and a party game. The original study has recently attracted criticism, but now sociologists at Columbia University are planning to re-do the study over the Internet, using e-mail forwarding. Volunteers can sign up here.
My own Bacon number is 3, the lowest of any of my cronies, dubious distinction though it may be. But my Madonna number is 2. This illustrates the justice and order inherent in the universe.
posted by WolfDaddy at 8:43 PM on January 14, 2003
posted by WolfDaddy at 8:43 PM on January 14, 2003
The Columbia project looks interesting - I've signed up!
posted by Salmonberry at 8:48 PM on January 14, 2003
posted by Salmonberry at 8:48 PM on January 14, 2003
I would rather they redo one of Milgram's other studies.
posted by pjdoland at 8:59 PM on January 14, 2003
posted by pjdoland at 8:59 PM on January 14, 2003
Got my copy of Obedience To Authority right here. The little fire of hatred for humanity it inspires keeps me warm at night.
Exaggeration aside, I honestly believe that Milgram's Obedience Experiments (capitalization Well Fucking Earned) were not only the most important thing I learned in college, but the most important thing I possibly could have learned.
posted by NortonDC at 9:35 PM on January 14, 2003
Exaggeration aside, I honestly believe that Milgram's Obedience Experiments (capitalization Well Fucking Earned) were not only the most important thing I learned in college, but the most important thing I possibly could have learned.
posted by NortonDC at 9:35 PM on January 14, 2003
My Bacon number is two as is my Madonna. So there.
There is only cruelty and injustice inherent in the universe.
posted by y2karl at 12:03 AM on January 15, 2003
There is only cruelty and injustice inherent in the universe.
posted by y2karl at 12:03 AM on January 15, 2003
Hey wow, if I really reach for it, my Bacon number is two as well.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 12:34 AM on January 15, 2003
posted by inpHilltr8r at 12:34 AM on January 15, 2003
Well, nine'll certainly do it, as this fascinating article proves.
posted by punilux at 1:18 AM on January 15, 2003
posted by punilux at 1:18 AM on January 15, 2003
My Bacon number is two as is my Madonna. So there.
There is only cruelty and injustice inherent in the universe.
Oh yea? Well, my Dolly Parton number is 2.
posted by thanotopsis at 3:31 AM on January 15, 2003
Cool - sociology spam! I must have a Nigeria number of 0.26.
But seriously, I'm fascinated by how important these degrees of connectedness are in everyday life - how our society really runs on ball bearings of personal connections, no matter how tenuous or arbitrary.
This was driven home during my recent job hunt. The briefest introduction - just "I know this person, he's not a psycho" - opens all kinds of doors. (Or even, "Hey, I went to the same school as you did, can we talk?"). I kept wondering - why is that?
This book opened my eyes to a lot of this - one of the more fascinating I've read in a long time.
Guess I need to get out of my cave more.
posted by gottabefunky at 7:14 AM on January 15, 2003
But seriously, I'm fascinated by how important these degrees of connectedness are in everyday life - how our society really runs on ball bearings of personal connections, no matter how tenuous or arbitrary.
This was driven home during my recent job hunt. The briefest introduction - just "I know this person, he's not a psycho" - opens all kinds of doors. (Or even, "Hey, I went to the same school as you did, can we talk?"). I kept wondering - why is that?
This book opened my eyes to a lot of this - one of the more fascinating I've read in a long time.
Guess I need to get out of my cave more.
posted by gottabefunky at 7:14 AM on January 15, 2003
"Now" being a relative term; here's a NY Times article on it from December 2001.
posted by languagehat at 7:53 AM on January 15, 2003
posted by languagehat at 7:53 AM on January 15, 2003
Hey! Let's see if we're linked. Who do you guys know?
posted by adrober at 8:23 AM on January 15, 2003
posted by adrober at 8:23 AM on January 15, 2003
Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point (I know, not cool to bring up in this oh-so-hep BlogWorld, but it's just such a nifty book) has a really good examination of this -- there are certain people that he dubs Connectors that just simply know lots of people...thus allowing memes to flow freely:
Sprinkled among every walk of life, in other words, are a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances. They are Connectors.
posted by Vidiot at 9:05 AM on January 15, 2003
Sprinkled among every walk of life, in other words, are a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances. They are Connectors.
posted by Vidiot at 9:05 AM on January 15, 2003
sociologists at Columbia University are planning to re-do the study over the Internet, using e-mail forwarding.
Hasn't this already been done and Bill Gates sent each participant $16.32 for every e-mail they forwarded using his new e-mail tracing program?
posted by m@ at 9:34 AM on January 15, 2003
Hasn't this already been done and Bill Gates sent each participant $16.32 for every e-mail they forwarded using his new e-mail tracing program?
posted by m@ at 9:34 AM on January 15, 2003
Gladwell had me on the Connector thing until this: It makes sense...that upper-income professionals should know more people than lower-income immigrants.
Why?
posted by gottabefunky at 9:43 AM on January 15, 2003
Why?
posted by gottabefunky at 9:43 AM on January 15, 2003
At this moment, the world population is estimated to be 6,268,640,827.
If each person on earth knows, on average, only 43 people who each know at least 43 non-duplicated others, then 6 degrees is valid. (43 x 43 x 43 x 43 x 43 x 43 = 6,321,363,049.) This seems likely. It is true that there are many large and small affinity groups, in which people tend to know a lot of people in the group but not many outside the group, but there are also many "connectors" (people who know lots of people in lots of groups), as noted in some of the links. And most people, do know more than 43 others.
posted by beagle at 9:59 AM on January 15, 2003
If each person on earth knows, on average, only 43 people who each know at least 43 non-duplicated others, then 6 degrees is valid. (43 x 43 x 43 x 43 x 43 x 43 = 6,321,363,049.) This seems likely. It is true that there are many large and small affinity groups, in which people tend to know a lot of people in the group but not many outside the group, but there are also many "connectors" (people who know lots of people in lots of groups), as noted in some of the links. And most people, do know more than 43 others.
posted by beagle at 9:59 AM on January 15, 2003
The connectors are definitely the prime factor. My sister had a best friend from the time she was about 2 until her early twenties; they drifted apart somewhat along the way, but my sister says that almost all of her other friends and acquaintances were people she met through this one woman, who does know an incredible number of people. I can think of a couple other people I know who tend to play this role - who are always waving to folks as you walk through town, or introducing you to people they know from random exchanges.
That little connector's test [see vidiot's 3rd link] depresses me everytime. I'm going to blame my pathetic score on a bad memory for last names. (actually a bad memory could be a factor in a lower likelihood of retaining acquaintances & therefore having a wide social circle...).
posted by mdn at 10:01 AM on January 15, 2003
That little connector's test [see vidiot's 3rd link] depresses me everytime. I'm going to blame my pathetic score on a bad memory for last names. (actually a bad memory could be a factor in a lower likelihood of retaining acquaintances & therefore having a wide social circle...).
posted by mdn at 10:01 AM on January 15, 2003
It makes sense...that upper-income professionals should know more people than lower-income immigrants.
why?
because they'll fly to large conferences a couple times a year, they'll regularly see dozens of patients or clients or students, they'll speak to large crowds, some percentage of whom will approach them afterwards, and they'll attend many events and parties where they're likely to meet many other well connected people who will in turn introduce them to many more... etc.
Lower income immigrants will spend much of their time working hard & taking care of the family. Even if they also see a large group of people in their line of work (say, behind the counter at a deli) they won't have exchanged names and contact information with those people, while the upper income ones will have.
Anyway, the article says that though the average was higher, there was an extremely wide range in all groups, and there were student "connectors" who had higher scores than some of the professionals.
posted by mdn at 10:09 AM on January 15, 2003
why?
because they'll fly to large conferences a couple times a year, they'll regularly see dozens of patients or clients or students, they'll speak to large crowds, some percentage of whom will approach them afterwards, and they'll attend many events and parties where they're likely to meet many other well connected people who will in turn introduce them to many more... etc.
Lower income immigrants will spend much of their time working hard & taking care of the family. Even if they also see a large group of people in their line of work (say, behind the counter at a deli) they won't have exchanged names and contact information with those people, while the upper income ones will have.
Anyway, the article says that though the average was higher, there was an extremely wide range in all groups, and there were student "connectors" who had higher scores than some of the professionals.
posted by mdn at 10:09 AM on January 15, 2003
This experiment is interesting, except that "people I've ever known" and "people I have email addresses for and feel comfortable sending this to" are two vastly different things.
posted by muckster at 10:40 AM on January 15, 2003
posted by muckster at 10:40 AM on January 15, 2003
Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg More from Malcolm Gladwell on the subject. He points out, as mdn did, that some people are better connectors than others. Lois Weisberg, for instance. She introduced Arthur C. Clarke to Isaac Asimov and at one point or another knew everyone.
Gladwell discusses some interesting details of the Milgram study and also mentions a study of the movie database that ranks actors by their average proximity to other actors and lots of other interesting stuff. Mostly it's interesting to read about this unassuming, gentle old woman and think of her as the wizard behind the curtain.
Also, the Bacon of the math world is Paul Erdos, who from all I've read was another very pleasant, quirky person. He moved from university to university without ever holding official appointments and published extensively with a large, diverse group of mathematicians.
Finally, these mefi threads point to interesting Bacon game sites.
posted by stuart_s at 12:40 PM on January 15, 2003
Gladwell discusses some interesting details of the Milgram study and also mentions a study of the movie database that ranks actors by their average proximity to other actors and lots of other interesting stuff. Mostly it's interesting to read about this unassuming, gentle old woman and think of her as the wizard behind the curtain.
Also, the Bacon of the math world is Paul Erdos, who from all I've read was another very pleasant, quirky person. He moved from university to university without ever holding official appointments and published extensively with a large, diverse group of mathematicians.
Finally, these mefi threads point to interesting Bacon game sites.
posted by stuart_s at 12:40 PM on January 15, 2003
Hm. Nobody's mentioned SixDegrees personal productivity software from Creo? Cool looking stuff.
posted by Tubes at 12:49 PM on January 15, 2003
posted by Tubes at 12:49 PM on January 15, 2003
This looks cool - I'm in! I only hope the final result isn't that I am completely unknown and totally insignificant :-)
posted by dg at 2:35 PM on January 15, 2003
posted by dg at 2:35 PM on January 15, 2003
I have registered twice and not gotten the promised e-mail back. Anyone else having this problem?
posted by beagle at 7:43 AM on January 16, 2003
posted by beagle at 7:43 AM on January 16, 2003
Milgram: the shock the subject guy, no?
posted by ParisParamus at 9:19 AM on January 16, 2003
posted by ParisParamus at 9:19 AM on January 16, 2003
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posted by rudyfink at 8:34 PM on January 14, 2003