Six degrees of seperation

[jenic]

This theory is really starting to get to my head.

Apparently everyone is an average of 6 steps to anyone else

BUT

what counts as a step and doesn't.

For example, i drive a renault so am i simply two steps form Alonso (Me - Renault - Alonso). Surely not, if that were true then i am 2 steps from nearly anything.

So making it more complex, it has to be people you know who knows the other person. I cant make any links to Alonso by doing this.

Anyone care to clarify this?

Disclaimer: I in no way agree with alonso being allowed to race, he is too smug and deserves a good kick up the backside, it was just a useful example

[Lawrenzini]

It's only through people - not cars.

It doesn't work anyway because any tests have been conducted on bias samples. In reality you probably are 6 degrees within Alonso because there is a heavy British contingent in F1.

However, it doesn't take account of how seperate many cultures are - it is unlikely that you would be within 6 degrees of someone who lives in Siberia or Africa as these places are not very well connected - even to places nearby.

[coluigi]

There are plenty of tribes how have had little/no contact with the 'outside' world. It's unlikely that someone from a small tribe is likely to be connected to everyone in the world via 6 steps.

[njp]

One of the well-known variants is with actors. You can centre the Universe on any actor, and see how many steps it takes to get to any other actor, via their films. The original (but not in fact the best) centre was Kevin Bacon, as documented at The Oracle of Bacon at Virginia, using data from the IMDB.

It works like this. If you are Kevin Bacon, you have a Bacon Number of 0. If you were in a film with Kevin Bacon, you have a Bacon Number of 1. If you were not in a film with Kevin Bacon, but were in a film with someone who was in a film with Kevin Bacon, you have a Bacon Number of 2. And so on.

It's actually quite hard to find high (but finite) Bacon Numbers, no matter how obscure you think the actor is. Fun for all the family.

[Gary D]

six degrees of separation does work.

i can connect any of you to George Bush and anyone he knows.

you know me (sort of) (1) - my mate dan (2)- his mum works in the cabinet office (3) - she knows the PM (4)- PM knows Dubba (5)

six degrees will always work, you just have to know the connections, but i'm convinced they are there.

Gary

[FruitBat]

Originally Posted by njp

It works like this. If you are Kevin Bacon, you have a Bacon Number of 0. If you were in a film with Kevin Bacon, you have a Bacon Number of 1. If you were not in a film with Kevin Bacon, but were in a film with someone who was in a film with Kevin Bacon, you have a Bacon Number of 2. And so on.

Another variant is the concept of Erdős number in mathematics. Paul Erdős was a prolific collaborator in mathematical papers. Erdős himself has an Erdős number of 0, people who have written papers with Erdős have an Erdős number of 1 etc.

For the real anoraks, there is also the Erdős-Bacon number, the sum of the 2 numbers. Not many people with these. There was a mathematician who had a cameo appearance in Good Will Hunting for example.