Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the "Human Web") refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth. (Reference: Wikipedia) If you’re a Christian or believe as the Bible says about Adam and Eve being the first two people put on Earth, then you probably already think that everyone is somehow related, that we are all interrelated in one way or another, we all share a common ancestor, even some evolutionists believe this. Social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter along with the whole internet and the communication capabilites we have nowadays has connected us immensely with each other all over the world.
The idea that there is at most six degrees of separation between any one person and another person on the Earth began with a Hungarian author named Frigyes Karinthy. Karinthy hypothesized that the modern world was shrinking and that any two individuals could be connected through at most five acquaintances. Several studies have been conducted to measure the correctness of this theory. Some argue that this claim has not been substantiated or demonstrated and that this is now just an urban myth. Many also argue that isolated groups of people would invalidate the hypothesis. The theory has been popularized in movies and in a play.
On a website called Glacir you can explore your six degrees of separation, and the website is supposed to help you make the six connections between you and any other one person on Earth. In 2007, actor Kevin Bacon launched the site Six Degrees which builds on the popularity of the theory along with giving to charities. There is also a Facebook application now named Six Degrees which supposedly calculates the degrees between different people. While this theory is very plausible we may never know for certain if it is indeed true; however, many people would agree the world is shrinking and it does seem like many times we are all connected by only a few different people. Even if we may not be connected socially through six or less people, one thing is certain and that is that we are all connected eventually. Every single thing you do on Earth affects not just you but everyone else, too. You do have an impact on the world and others. You could set off a chain of events that affects people you don’t know or you’ve never met. It could even affect every single person on the face of the planet. When you do good, positive outcomes are spread; when you do bad, negative outcomes are spread. Every single person on the face of the Earth impacts another in ways that are sometimes easy to see and sometimes not so easy to see.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation
