Re:The six degrees of seperation is now three
by smoody on Sunday September 07, 2008 @05:01PM
(#297720)
"For example, one of the respondents Katrina, 27 from Brighton, is a classical musician and leads a jazz band. She was asked to make contact with a Japanese jazz singer, Natsuo Murakami, halfway across the world. She contacted her record producer in Berlin via an email. He called his opposite number in Tokyo who had a register of all jazz singers in the country. Therefore making the link from Katrina to Natsuo in three personal steps."
Whether or not their conclusion is valid, that is a terrible example for making their case. I wonder how many steps it would have taken her to reach a 72 year old male working in a cattle processing plant in Arkansas. I suspect her record producer wouldn't be able to help her with that one.
Re:The six degrees of seperation is now three
by themenace on Monday September 08, 2008 @05:43AM
(#298149)
Not only is it a bad example, it's cheating! The guy in Tokyo didn't know the target personally; he just looked him up in a register. The origin of "Six degrees of separation" presumes that each individual in the chain knows the next link personally.
Here's how the original experiment worked:
"The recipient was asked whether he or she personally knew the contact person described in the letter. If so, the person was to forward the letter directly to that person."
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_world_experiment )
Whether or not their conclusion is valid, that is a terrible example for making their case. I wonder how many steps it would have taken her to reach a 72 year old male working in a cattle processing plant in Arkansas. I suspect her record producer wouldn't be able to help her with that one.
Here's how the original experiment worked: "The recipient was asked whether he or she personally knew the contact person described in the letter. If so, the person was to forward the letter directly to that person." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_world_experiment )