Month: January 2008

Six Degrees of Separation/Connection may be in trouble. Why can't 6/degrees find Osama bin laden?

Six Degrees has problems

ScienceFriday.com's version

Chances are you've heard of the 'small world' idea of six degrees of separation. But is it correct?

The idea traces back to an experiment begun in 1967 by Stanley Milgram, in which he tried to trace how many acquaintances it would take to pass a letter between two randomly selected people. The result that entered the public consciousness was that in general it took six steps or fewer to bridge the gap between any two people. But is that result accurate? Judith Kleinfeld,

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200801256

tags, 6 degrees, Kevin Bacon Effect, six degrees, Milgram,

TVO's 'Big Ideas' – Another treasure trove.

Big Ideas video podcast TV Ontario produces a lecture format show featuring heavy thinkers. You can subscribe   here. I'm posting links to a particular show I found especially illuminating on the subject of micro-financing and a new book, 'A Billion Bootstraps' by Eric Thurman. Here's the mp3 lecture but check out TVO's Big Ideas Past Episodes page – hundreds of hours of pro audio lectures from the likes of Deepak Chopra,and Naomi Klein, as well as many you've not heard of before.