Everything Everywhere Daily Six Degrees of Separation
Sep 8, 2025
Discover the mind-blowing theory of six degrees of separation, which reveals how everyone on Earth is just six connections away from one another. Explore the Small World Experiment that demonstrated our interlinking social networks. Delve into the connection to the popular Kevin Bacon Game and the cultural implications of interconnectedness in our digital age. From film to math, learn how various metrics showcase our ties, including fascinating historical connections within early Christian communities.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Every Person Is Surprisingly Close
- The six degrees idea claims any two people are connected by at most six acquaintances.
- That framing reshapes how we think about global social reach and personal networks.
Milgram's Folder Experiment
- Stanley Milgram ran an experiment in 1967 forwarding folders to a target using only personal acquaintances.
- Of roughly 300 chains, about 64 reached the target with an average of five to six intermediaries.
Experiment Had Limits But Big Impact
- Milgram's study had high attrition and sample bias, so results are messy but suggestive.
- The experiment nonetheless launched decades of research into social networks and connectivity.
