There's a belief that everyone in the world is connected or related to one another within six degrees. Have you ever met a complete stranger and - in the course of conversation or over time - come to find out that he or she is related to you or connected through a mutual friend, but you never knew it until then?
2007-11-11 08:49:48 · 8 answers · asked by Calliope 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
At best, 6 degrees of separation is an average, not a maximum. But it depends on the individual's personality and opportunity.
But it wouldn't be a bad goal for one's life to have the amount of human contact and community participation (local and world) that would make that more likely.
2007-11-11 09:03:04 · answer #1 · answered by freebird 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It depends on what you consider to be a connection - in a way, I'm connected to all Buddhist monks because one of my best friends is a Buddhist.
But yes, in everyday life, these examples seem to be very common. For example, I travelled to the other side of the country for work, and immediately met, at the same company, a woman who was a friend of one of my good friends at home, and was my friend's boyfriend's cousin.
We were both from the same city, had similar backgrounds and had friends in common, yet we only met by travelling thousands of miles away ... go figure!
2007-11-11 19:12:44 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think it depends on what you consider a link. I could consider myself to be linked to George Bush because he is the president of the country I am in. Or I could say I am not, because I have never even seen him except on television. I do believe in six degrees though. if you say that every person is linked to 100 people, then each extra degree adds another exponent. six degrees would be 100 to the sixth power, or one trillion people. since there are only about six billion people on earth, we are probably linked is some way to all of them.
2007-11-11 17:49:37 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
This may better be described as a statistical observation of human relationships in the USA. This does not mean you will never meet someone who is more than six degrees of separation from you, it just means it is unlikely.
If you consider how mobile we are, and how many people we all know, I do not find this at all surprising.
2007-11-11 16:57:55 · answer #4 · answered by Seosamh 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes I have and its the weirdest feeling. An example, my family and I were on vacation in Hawaii and were at a luau. Someone at our table asked where everyone was from. Another couple stated that they were from Michigan and we smiled at them and said we were too. The couple then asked what part of Michigan and we told them and found out that we were both from the same town and that their daughter worked for a company that I had contact with on a weekly basis and she was my contact person! Whoa! It was weird.
2007-11-11 17:07:21 · answer #5 · answered by ? 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes, everybody is connected somehow, although i would not say the maximum is six (for instance, a buddhist monk in tibet is certainly not going to be 6 degrees seperate from me)
2007-11-11 17:51:19 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i swear you have already aske this question... and the movie was cool but let it go man!
2007-11-11 16:57:25 · answer #7 · answered by Kieri Baby 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no! not yet.
2007-11-19 06:54:12 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋