How does a phenomenon get started? You’ve all heard the phrase six degrees of separation, which is the idea that any two people in the world can be connected through six steps or less, through a chain of intermediaries.
But where did the idea of six degrees of separation come from?
What you may not know, or have ever heard of is Chain-Links, which is a short story written in 1929 by Frigyes Karinthy. Frigyes Karinthy (June 25, 1887 – August 29, 1938), a Hungarian author, playwright, poet, journalist, and translator, was the first proponent of six degrees of separation. Here is an excerpt from the story:
“…One of us suggested performing the following experiment to prove that the population of the Earth is closer together than they have ever been before. We should select any person from the 1.5 billion inhabitants of the Earth – anyone, anywhere at all… He bet us that, using no more than five individuals, one of whom is a personal acquaintance, he could contact the select individual using nothing except the network of personal acquaintances…Our friend was absolutely correct: nobody from the group needed more than five links in the chain to reach, just by using the method of your acquaintance, any inhabitant of our planet.”
The idea of six degree of separation was popularized decades later when John Guare wrote a play about it. The play was later released as a film. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a spin off from the concept, where any actor can be linked to Kevin Bacon through no more that six connections. According to Wikipedia, “This idea [six degrees of separation] both directly and indirectly influenced a great deal of early thought on social networks.” Kevin Bacon also started SixDegrees.org.
So the big questions are:
- Who is in your network?
- Do you take the time to work on building your relationships?
- Can you be connected to the people you need to be connected to through six degrees of separation or less?
- Where is your Chain-Links? Where will you find that one big idea that will spread like wild fire?
- Where do your great ideas come from?
You can find a copy of the short story Chain-Links in The Structure and Dynamics of Networks By Mark E. J. Newman, Albert-László Barabási, Duncan J. Watts. I read the short story at Google Books, but you have to read it online, no printing or downloading unless you purchases a copy.
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Inside the Game
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Video Credit: Uploaded by DaveOfTheRose on Jan 9, 2010
