Do you think it would be possible to meet your favorite actor, or members of the musical group you’ve been in love with for years?According to the theory of six-degree separation, it wouldn’t be that difficult.
This hypothesis suggests that every inhabitant of planet Earth is connected to everyone through a maximum of six personal relationships, between knowledge or friendships, so we could reach anyone through up to five intermediaries.
- Imagine if you wanted to meet the famous actor Will Smith.
- Maybe you have a family member who works for an advertising agency.
- And maybe your boss worked in the United States.
- Where he met a representative of an artist who works with a musician who occasionally collaborates with him.
- Famous actor Sounds complicated.
- But you may be surprised.
This curious theory was first proposed by Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in 1930, based on a short story called Chains.
According to the author, the idea of the six-degree separation theory is based on the fact that the number of known people grows exponentially with the number of chain relationships.
In this way, only a small number of relationships would be necessary for the set of individuals that everyone can know to become the total population of the planet. This concept was described by sociologist Duncan Watts in the book Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected. Years.
Logically, this assumption should be based on figures, which are established by an average number of people that each individual can know. According to the theory of six degrees of separation, every person in the world lives one hundred more, among friends, family and peers.
Although it is difficult to list the hundred people we know at first, a quick look at the friends list of any social network would be enough to see that this is not only possible, but also quite common.
Well, if each of our 100 acquaintances is linked to 100 other people, the number would only increase to 10,000 on the second level of that chain. At first, we didn’t know most of those 10,000 people, but they would be easily accessible if we asked our friends or family to introduce us to this group.
Of course, this assumption also considers that none of our 100 acquaintances have a common relationship with the next 10,000, although this is not true in practice, we should also consider that many of our acquaintances are likely to have access to more than 100 people, which could balance the situation.
Continuing the levels of this chain, in the next step we could increase the number of people to 1 million and, with one more, to 100 million people. In a fifth level we would reach 10 billion and in the sixth we would reach 1 billion.
This far outperforms the planet’s total population, so the relationships that chain members have in common could be compensated without any problem.
This theory is closely linked to the concept of networking: a professional and commercial practice based on the creation of a solid and useful network of contacts.
In addition, it is a very effective way to get a job offer; as a result, networking is strongly encouraged among college students who wish to enter the professional market. Second, the six-degree separation theory comes into play as a means of establishing industrial relations.
Think of another example: a hotel receptionist meets the owner of this property and, as a result, meets the owner of a well-known hotel who, in turn, also meets with a senior government official who meets the president.
In this way, with only five connections, we arrive from the hotel receptionist to the president, of course they do not have to be strong friendships and, in most cases, they will not be, however, this is not essential to maintain a relationship.
Being able to have a relationship with anyone in such a seemingly simple way is incredibly useful to get career opportunities and, moreover, it is a curious task to think about how many relationships we would need, and by whom, to reach a certain person.