Is there any scientific way to prove or disprove the theory of six degrees of separation?

Answer 1

Sort of.

Since there are 6.5 billion people in the world, the six degrees hypthesis might be theoretically valid if the mean number of persons known by the average person is 43 or greater.

[log(6,500,000,000) / 6 ]^10 = 43

This simplistic computation does not account for the fact that some people are fantastically well-connected (politicians typically know hundreds of people, for example) and some are almost entirely disconnected (a hermit may know only two or three people).

So "six" is in the ball park for being correct. For five degrees of separation, the average person would have to know 92 people, and for seven degrees of separation, the average person would have to know 25 people.

Oh, and by the way:

1. Saddam Hussein met Donald Rumsfeld in 1986.
2. Donald Rumsfeld met Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in February 2006 to discuss the C-17.
3. Arnold Schwarzenegger played the father of Alyssa Milano in "Commando".
4. Alyssa Milano dated Justin Timberlake.
5. Justin Timberlake dated Britney Spears.
6. Britney Spears knows all of her children.

Answer 2

I'll let you do the exercise and it will disprove it. Link Saddam Hussein to Britney Spears' second kid.