Six degrees

"Six degrees of separation" is the concept that everyone on the planet is somehow connected, through the people they know. The ultimate network, as it were.

Here's how it works:

1. If I know someone personally, I am "one degree" or "one step" from that person.

2. That person knows other people besides myself, people that I don't know. I would be "two steps" or "two degrees" from those people.

And so forth. The theory being that by 6 steps, you are webbed with everyone on earth, somehow, someway. I don't know who came up with this absurdity in the first place, and I don't know how they would propose to prove it.

But it is sort of fun, especially if you allow "proxies." In fact, UNLESS you allow proxies, it isn't much fun at all. Proxies mean you get to count people you simply "have heard of" rather than having to actually know them in person.

For example, let's say I go to a movie, say the musical "South Pacific". I don't know. Let's just say it is an old theater that runs old movies. Don't ask hard questions. :)

Anyway, let's say that in that movie, one of the actors is a guy named Ray Walston.

Well, I don't really know Ray Walston (and can't because he is dead now, but bear with me) but I get to count him as a step one (or one degree of separation) because "I have heard of him."

Next step, second degree: Let's say Ray Walston acted in a TV series called "My Favorite Martian." He did. And that show also starred an actor named Bill Bixby. "By Proxie" I am two degrees, or two steps back, from Bill Bixby. See?

And, let's say Bill Bixby starred in another tv show called "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" and in that show was another actress named Miyoshi Umeki. That would be 3 degrees away from me.

Then, let's say that actress once starred in a movie called "Flower Drum Song". In that movie were other actors. Pick one. Jack Soo. (This was mostly an Asian movie, so it had mostly Asian actors.) So Jack Soo is 4 degrees separated from me.

Jack Soo starred as a police detective in a TV sitcom called "Barney Miller". Other actors were in that show, too: Pick one. I choose the venerable Abe Vigoda. Fish. 5 degrees from me.

Abe Vigoda acted in a movie called "The Godfather". Fish went to live with the fishes in that one. Also in that movie were lot of other actors. I choose Marlin Brando. So Brando is 6 degrees from me.

We can go on and on even more, but you would stop reading this if we did.

Anyway, the theory of six degrees of separation is that by the time you get to the sixth step, all of those people would have interacted with a huge number of people, and they in turn more and more people, that you could actually (theoretically) have a list of all the people on the planet if you followed each link through to its completion.

Or you could have said that Ray Walston acted in a movie called "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and was the teacher of Spicoli, played by a young unknown actor named Sean Penn. Then you could say Sean Penn was Married to Madonna and Madonna knew every man on earth. Or something like that. See?

This post is only for people who like to analyze things, btw. Not much fun for the rest of you. But the post will only be up for one day.

Edit: Make that "one month."