Clipping Board » New Knowledge and the Unknown of Life ─ Life will always bring you surprises and wonders.
Update Date: 2008/08/03 04:09
[Compiled by Hu Lizong/Comprehensive Report]
The "small world phenomenon," which assumes that there is some connection between people even if they don't know each other, has been proven for the first time. According to Microsoft's MSN database, researchers have found that the average "interpersonal gap" between strangers is 6.6 people, slightly more than originally hypothesized, but still demonstrating the astonishing connectivity among humans worldwide.
The so-called "small world phenomenon" or "small world effect" hypothesizes that any two strangers in any corner of the world can be connected through six intermediaries. This hypothesis is therefore also known as the six degrees of separation theory.
The "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," named after Hollywood actor Kevin Bacon, is also based on the above theory. Any person who has acted in a movie can be connected to Kevin Bacon through six intermediaries. Even the late Pope John Paul II, who acted in a movie in 2000, can be linked to Kevin Bacon through three actor intermediaries.
This theory was first tested on a small scale by two scholars in the 1960s, but the results were not comprehensive at the time. Later, people tested it via email, but still couldn't fully prove the theory. It wasn't until recently, through MSN's vast user database, that the theory was empirically validated.
Researchers compared 30 billion messages from 180 million users, assuming that users who had exchanged at least one message knew each other. They found that any user could be connected to any of the 180 billion pairs in the entire database through an average of 6.6 people.
Additionally, although the longest chain required 29 intermediaries, as many as 78% of the pairs could be connected within seven intermediaries.
Researchers say this discovery not only proves the existence of the "small world phenomenon" but also has broader application potential, "such as political mobilization, fundraising, disaster relief, and missing person searches," "using a specific group of people as a starting point, pressing enter can easily spread the message to people all over the world."
Source: http://tw. news. yahoo. com/ article/ url/ d/ a/ 080803/ 78/ ehm. html
Any Two People on Earth Connected by 6.6 Individuals
[Compiled by Hu Lizong/Comprehensive Report]
The "small world phenomenon," which assumes that there is some connection between people even if they don't know each other, has been proven for the first time. According to Microsoft's MSN database, researchers have found that the average "interpersonal gap" between strangers is 6.6 people, slightly more than originally hypothesized, but still demonstrating the astonishing connectivity among humans worldwide.
The so-called "small world phenomenon" or "small world effect" hypothesizes that any two strangers in any corner of the world can be connected through six intermediaries. This hypothesis is therefore also known as the six degrees of separation theory.
The "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," named after Hollywood actor Kevin Bacon, is also based on the above theory. Any person who has acted in a movie can be connected to Kevin Bacon through six intermediaries. Even the late Pope John Paul II, who acted in a movie in 2000, can be linked to Kevin Bacon through three actor intermediaries.
This theory was first tested on a small scale by two scholars in the 1960s, but the results were not comprehensive at the time. Later, people tested it via email, but still couldn't fully prove the theory. It wasn't until recently, through MSN's vast user database, that the theory was empirically validated.
Researchers compared 30 billion messages from 180 million users, assuming that users who had exchanged at least one message knew each other. They found that any user could be connected to any of the 180 billion pairs in the entire database through an average of 6.6 people.
Additionally, although the longest chain required 29 intermediaries, as many as 78% of the pairs could be connected within seven intermediaries.
Researchers say this discovery not only proves the existence of the "small world phenomenon" but also has broader application potential, "such as political mobilization, fundraising, disaster relief, and missing person searches," "using a specific group of people as a starting point, pressing enter can easily spread the message to people all over the world."
Source: http://tw. news. yahoo. com/ article/ url/ d/ a/ 080803/ 78/ ehm. html