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Six Degrees of Separation

Posted on May 31, 2009 by Christopher in science, technology
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This documentary investigates the urban myth Six Degrees of Separation. The idea that in a world of more than six billion people, everyone is connected in just a few steps. That's to say, that you know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, .... , who knows me or anyone else on the planet. When scientists began exploring Six Degrees, they made profound discoveries. Nature has a hidden blueprint, a structure that connects us all. Testing an urban myth has led to an entirely new branch of science, Network Theory, and some believe it will change our lives. Networks are important, because if we don't understand networks, we can't understand how markets function, how organizations solve problems, or how societies change. Six Degrees has the potential to change the way we fight terrorism, predict pandemics, and combat disease. It may prove to be one of the greatest scientific insights of recent times.

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Rating: 4.7/5 (27 votes cast)

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posted on December 23, 2009, 07:48:06 AM
comment #2982
casstete

I'm missing the genetic links between different cultures , tribes or civilisations which should indicate the origines of basicaly all of us ..... also what would the network look like 200 years ago ? .... would it not be a single hub at some point ... which again would pouint us to the origins of civilisation and geneticaly speaking we should be able to backtrack all the way to the first man "and know " if we are missing a link ..... not guess as is the case at present .

we should be able to pinpoint the locations of previous civilisations by using the oldest known cities as

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posted on September 20, 2009, 06:59:35 AM
comment #1630
Lordrefaa

I don't mean to reduce the importance of network theory, but as far as human relation networks are concerned (the most traditional understanding of the "six degrees"), two variables have been totally shadowed here : evolution in time and technology. Some societies can be perfectly described by the network theory, but not the entire humanity, at least not yet. Let's not forget that for centuries no connections existed between some continents! So if we want to apply this mathematical model to human relations, we need to define a "level of progress", some minimum "technological" media, allowing the existence of hubs and random links. Furthermore, the relevant networks for health issues might be the casual meeting network, which can be more interconnected (public spaces, transportation...) as well as more clustered (small islands). To be rigorous one needs to explicit the equivalents of abstract mathematical properties such as connectivity, link, size, "small" number... The result of the experiment is clear : 3 packages over 20 is a low success rate, both numbers being anyway too small to be a valid statistical set.

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posted on August 16, 2009, 03:29:50 PM
comment #1324
Bendik
This is a reply to comment #1074

Wanna try it out, Rob? If you e-mail me your name, city and occupation I could try to get you a package (wow, this sounds like a scam ;) ). I live in Norway, so it would be an interesting project.

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posted on July 26, 2009, 02:18:58 AM
comment #1209
BEEBfan

i love bbc documentaries!!

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posted on July 20, 2009, 09:27:06 PM
comment #1170
Tyler

Wow. Brilliant, fascinating, and relevant. I can't wait to start hearing about this in the news!

I think this theory might also help explain how mass builds up in atoms, and in solar systems and galaxies too. All of the matter collects in hub networks.

Again, brilliant.

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posted on July 02, 2009, 11:33:32 AM
comment #1074
Rob

Networks are very interesting. Never thought about connection between people in the world.

So I may be connected with a seperation of max 6 degrees with the guy/girl reading my comment now. Very interesting!

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posted on June 30, 2009, 06:51:52 PM
comment #1062
David

i like the idea of scientists using the networking pattern as a way to combat disease. it sounds really plausible.

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posted on June 18, 2009, 11:19:58 PM
comment #1004
Type6

This docu makes me want to study network science... or get a job at UPS ;)!

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posted on June 14, 2009, 07:18:37 PM
comment #974
fancypandy

only three out of 40 make it, thats not very many!

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posted on June 11, 2009, 04:26:26 AM
comment #963
Karen Colville

The journey of the packages and the Scientists theory and the development with potential is amazing.This is one of the most excellent quality films going.Thanks! Yes we are all in this together.:)

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posted on June 08, 2009, 02:36:58 AM
comment #944
Kedrick

I must admit I'm genuinely impressed! Network Science is truly the next great generational break through.

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posted on June 03, 2009, 03:40:50 AM
comment #920
Jenny

This is how facebook and all those other social networking sites got to be

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posted on June 02, 2009, 03:39:34 PM
comment #916
D.B. Cooper

I was surprised no mention was made of Stanley Milgram and his 1967 'small world experiment'.

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