Six Degrees of Separation

The "six degrees of separation" principle in my mind is sort of like the "principle" of gravity, or God, or the greatness of Bob Dylan; all these things take huge leaps in pretension and anti-socialism to deny. In other words, they are all manifestly true, and only obnoxious people are invested in denying them.

The funny (or American) thing about the six degrees theory is that is started out as a latter-day parlor game centered around the actor Kevin Bacon, and was restricted to the realms of movie actors.

Example: Kevin Bacon was in "JFK" with John Candy, who was in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" with Steve Martin, who was in "The Pink Panther" with Beyonce. Hence, there are only 3 degrees of separation between Kevin Bacon and Beyonce.

Many a stoned teenager has been amazed by this truth. But it's not just a parlor game. It doesn't just apply to famous people, and it doesn't just apply to movies. It applies to every single human being alive.

There are well over six billion of us, but there are no more than six degrees of separation between any 2 of us. It is this truth which shatters the "illusion of separateness", as I've heard it called.

Here is but one example. My sister married an Israeli citizen in 1993. In 1994 they went to Israel to visit my brother in law's aging parents. On the months-long trip, my sister met and spoke with Yasser Arafat.

She spoke with him, sat with him, had a conversation with him. The six degrees theory does not apply to strangers who you brush elbows with on the street; this is about actual connections, where you are introduced to someone, talk to them, inquire about their families, remember them.

So my sister met Yasser Arafat. That makes me 2 degrees removed from Arafat. Who has Arafat met? It would take forever to flesh this out, but one example would be Saddam Hussein. That makes me 3 degrees removed from Saddam Hussein.

And keep in mind, the "game" allows for SIX degrees of separation.

It is difficult to articulate what this proves, because it is not a minor point; it cuts straight to the heart of how we look at the universe. It gives pause to those of us who insist on treating ourselves as separate little universes, and it delivers the proper weight to the words "brother" and "sister".