So much for six degrees of separation. The average number of connections attaching ANY two random people on Earth isn’t six — as psychologists once thought. It is 4.74, new research suggests. Here’s an excerpt from a terrific New York Times piece on this.
Adding a new chapter to the research that cemented the phrase “six degrees of separation” into the language, scientists at Facebook and the University of Milan reported on Monday that the average number of acquaintances separating any two people in the world was not six but 4.74.
The original “six degrees” finding, published in 1967 by the psychologist Stanley Milgram, was drawn from 296 volunteers who were asked to send … go to The New York Times source piece.
Photo credit: Gina Smith
