I have never looked into it, and I haven't read the book,
but I find it very hard to believe that someone who lets say lived and died in
the hills of Kentucky without leaving a local geographical area (with no phone
or computer of course) would be 6 to 7 introductions away from a nomad who
lived and died in the mountains of Afghanistan in a similar small geographic
area.
It sounds like one of those things which are based on
certain assumptions which may not be true (or the math is so exotic people just
assume ‘they’ must be correct).
--Mike
--- On Sun, 8/3/08, Christopher D. Green <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: Christopher D. Green <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [tips] Microsoft prove there are just six degrees of separation
between us | Technology | The Observer
To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]>
Date: Sunday, August 3, 2008, 7:36 AM
Allow me to recommend, once again, the book _Linked: How Everything in
Connected to Everything Else, and What It Means for Business, Sciences,
and Everyday Life_ by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi. Despite the somewhat
new-agey, holistic title, it is actually about mathematical network
theory, and has all kinds of applications to the "real world,"
especially in the internet age. By the way, the "six degrees" idea did
not originate with Milgram, as many psychologists like to believe. It
instead dates back to a Hungarian author of the 1920s.
Regards,
Chris
--
Christopher D
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Christopher D. Green
Department of Psychology
York University
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
Canada
416-736-2100 ex. 66164
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.yorku.ca/christo/
=========================
Allen Esterson wrote:
On 2 August 2008 Chris Green wrote:
The "six degrees" theory apparently holds up, even in the
electronic age.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/03/internet.email
Surely the advent of electonic mailing has appreciably *increased* the
probability of such connections. I "know" far more people in recent years
than previously -- just think of all the TIPsters for starters! Doesn't
this work undertaken by Microsoft researchers imply that before the advent
of large-scale emailing the "six degrees" theory was an overstatement?
>From the Guardian article:
"But yesterday researchers announced the theory was right - nearly. By
studying billions of electronic messages, they worked out that any two
strangers are, on average, distanced by precisely 6.6 degrees of
separation."
Allen Esterson
Former lecturer, Science Department
Southwark College, London
http://www.esterson.org
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