The six-handshake theory states that we all know each other after a maximum of five people. Sometimes we don't even mean how many friends we have and that only five of them separate us from meeting any person.
For the first time, the world learned about the theory of six handshakes in the 30s of the last century. It was described in detail in Frieds Carinti's fantasy story "The Links of the Chain". The plot was based on an experiment that proved that all the inhabitants of the planet know each other in a maximum of 5 people. This phenomenon became interesting to sociologists, and in 1969 the theory was finally formed. To confirm the hypothesis, American sociologists Jeffrey Travers and Stanley Milgram distributed 300 envelopes to residents of a small town. The goal was simple: using only your own contacts to deliver the letter to the addressee. 60 letters reached the desired address, and the path length of each letter did not exceed 5 people. The essence of the experiment was as follows: if the subject did not know the addressee, then it was required to send a letter to a person who is most likely familiar with him. Perhaps the organizers did not take into account the costs of the stamps, so only 60 out of 300 letters reached.
Later, the experiment was repeated, but using modern means of communication. In total, 20 secret addresses were created, and the volunteers were asked to find these people. Surprisingly, the first was the resident of Australia, who found the right address after just four acquaintances. And this address turned out to be not on the next street or even in the neighboring city, but in Siberia!
Microsoft approached the experiment on a grand scale
Microsoft used all the necessary resources, spent 2 years, during which specialists analyzed almost 250 million messages and identified relationships. Yes, and again everything came together - any user of the service could find another after 6, 6 people on average.
But, even knowing about this theory, we are still surprised when we find mutual acquaintances even where, it would seem, it is impossible.
Social media experiment
With the advent of the era of social networks, the experiment was repeated in them. Probably, each of us noticed that accepting an invitation to friends from a stranger, we see one or two mutual friends. Surprisingly, these people have linked you for a long time in real or virtual life, and in fact you knew each other long before you started communicating on social networks. Facebook, being by far the widest social network popular all over the world, conducted its research in cooperation with the University of Milan. And their verdict: the number of links in the human chain is only 4, 4. Of course, there is an error, since the coverage of registration on the Facebook network is not 100%.
Arguments in favor of refuting the hypothesis
There are always those who support and those who doubt. Not everyone is ready to accept the theory of six handshakes as an axiom. And the main argument in favor of the refutation was that the chain was broken, and not every letter found its addressee. Here you need to take into account the human factor: someone did not want to take part, someone forgot or for other reasons refused to take the baton.
As for social networks, in some ways the critics are right: yes, we do not know all of our friends personally, but the Internet allows people to become closer to a friend, make virtual acquaintances and communicate without restrictions. After all, you still know each other, albeit in absentia. There are no other, more weighty arguments in favor of refuting the theory.
The game "VKontakte" as a way to test the theory
You don't even need to install additional applications, just type any name and surname into the search. From the list that the social network will give out, choose a person from another city and start playing. Go to his list of friends, then go to the page of the first friend in the list and repeat the action. The social network ranks friends by rating, substituting the most likely acquaintances at the top. On average, the chain will consist of 3-5 people. Thus, even skeptics can test the theory without leaving home or even getting up from their desk. Instructions:
- Select the "victim" (it must be real).
- Go to her page.
- Go to the page of her first friend on the list.
Theory doesn't always work
Even today there are closed groups that live in isolation and try to minimize contact with the outside world. In addition, in some countries, a caste system with very strict boundaries is still used. And even the Internet cannot shorten this chain between people. In fact, the world of a particular person is determined by his life characteristics: habits, place of study and work, favorite places to relax, and it is in this stratum that it is quite possible to find acquaintances after 6 handshakes.
What prevents you from confirming or refuting the rule:
- using different communication methods, messengers and social networks;
- the presence of "closed" groups of people on the planet;
- the impossibility of conducting an experiment involving all the inhabitants of the Earth.
It is necessary to take for granted the fact that our world is not monolithic and not homogeneous and consists of many layers, in each of which people live according to their own rules. Of course, with the advent of technology, people have become closer to each other, but to fully confirm or refute the theory, 100% participation of all inhabitants of the planet is needed. And this is not possible.
Art and Film Six Handshake Theory:
- the play "Six Degrees of Separation";
- the movie "Love Actually";
- the series "Friends";
- the series "Six";
- the film "Fir-Trees".
- Game "six steps to …"
Film fans are well aware of the game Six Steps to Kevin Bacon. The goal of the game is to find a chain from any actor to Kevin Bacon on the principle "they starred together." Kevin himself gave the idea for this game, stating that everyone who starred with him starred with all the actors in Hollywood. And mathematicians have a similar entertainment - the game "Erdos Number". You need to get to Erdos using the principle of "who worked with him." You can make such a dating card yourself and try to play it. At the very least, this is an interesting idea for an evening with a large group of friends.
Even if the theory is not correct, it shows how many potential friends and acquaintances we have in different parts of the world. After all, if you continue your research further, it is quite possible that you will have not only common acquaintances, but also common interests, hobbies, professional or other preferences. You just need to reach out to find new friends.
