They're not outright saying that everyone in the planet uses MSN
messenger, they're only saying that you could probably be linked to
someone who uses MSN. You yourself might not use it, but I do, and
that's already one link right there. From me, you could probably be
linked to the chancellor of LSU, who is probably good friends with
someone in government in Louisiana, who of course, is in contact
with Bush. There you go, you're connected to Bush in less
than 6 degrees. Thank you for playing
Erm .. I know how 6-degrees works .. but the BBC are claiming
that MS is claiming that by "analys[ing] the senders and recipients
of 30 billion instant messages", they've determined that "everyone
on the planet" could be linked by an "average" string of 6.6
relationships. They have no idea that I know you, because we don't
use MSN to communicate.
I'm also totally ignoring the 'average' of 6.6. If I'm separated
from someone by 6 relationships, then I'm separated from someone
else by 5, someone else by 4, someone else by 3, someone else by 2
and someone else by 1. That's an 'average' of 3.5 relationships. To
get an average of 6.6, there has to be more than half the planet
that are OVER 6 relationships separated from me.
Not to be annoying, just looking to expand on this (it's 3am
here, humor me ;)) but true, they might be making
overgeneralizations, but say you assume a normal household is a
family of 3/4. You see traffic going out of one house, and only one
account is associated with that traffic. You've already got one
link to the 3-4 people in that household there, who in turn have
links to someone else. That's how I see it. Some rather big
generalizations and assumptions, but not implausible.
5 comments so far
They're not outright saying that everyone in the planet uses MSN messenger, they're only saying that you could probably be linked to someone who uses MSN. You yourself might not use it, but I do, and that's already one link right there. From me, you could probably be linked to the chancellor of LSU, who is probably good friends with someone in government in Louisiana, who of course, is in contact with Bush. There you go, you're connected to Bush in less than 6 degrees. Thank you for playing
1 month ago by edythemighty.
Erm .. I know how 6-degrees works .. but the BBC are claiming that MS is claiming that by "analys[ing] the senders and recipients of 30 billion instant messages", they've determined that "everyone on the planet" could be linked by an "average" string of 6.6 relationships. They have no idea that I know you, because we don't use MSN to communicate.
1 month ago by RickMeasham.
I'm also totally ignoring the 'average' of 6.6. If I'm separated from someone by 6 relationships, then I'm separated from someone else by 5, someone else by 4, someone else by 3, someone else by 2 and someone else by 1. That's an 'average' of 3.5 relationships. To get an average of 6.6, there has to be more than half the planet that are OVER 6 relationships separated from me.
1 month ago by RickMeasham.
Not to be annoying, just looking to expand on this (it's 3am here, humor me ;)) but true, they might be making overgeneralizations, but say you assume a normal household is a family of 3/4. You see traffic going out of one house, and only one account is associated with that traffic. You've already got one link to the 3-4 people in that household there, who in turn have links to someone else. That's how I see it. Some rather big generalizations and assumptions, but not implausible.
1 month ago by edythemighty.
But then it wouldn't be as fun to play Six Degrees of Kevin Beacon!
1 month ago by edythemighty.