5 ms·

I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

53 points by liamzebedee 4y ago

netsharc 4y ago
Huh, after he concluded the story, it got a bit rambling and pop-philosophical. Featuring that Steve Jobs quote that might as well be printed on wood and be sold as kitsch decoration... Wahey, it's the season to be nice and jolly!
- liamzebedee 4y ago
  Haha, well you're right. The point of writing is to think. I never said it was going to be a scientific theory - and really, life is too complex a landscape to build a falsifiable theory anyways. We can still discuss anecdotes though.
angarg12 4y ago
Hey let me tell you how I found one of my jobs! I just moved to a new room and was speaking spanish on the phone. My new neighbor stopped me and asked if I could help their son to study Spanish. I accepted to do it for free. Since I didn't take a payment, the wife invited me for dinner as payment. During dinner I met the husband, who just happens to be a directive for a local company. After talking, it turns out that they were looking for a programmer. I was also looking for a new job. Of course this is a pointless anecdote. Rather than individual anecdotes, I prefer to look for a general framework, such as the luck surface area [1]. [1] https://modelthinkers.com/mental-model/surface-area-of-luck https://modelthinkers.com/mental-model/surface-area-of-luck
- nly 4y ago
  It also shows how social capital as a whole plays a role, above and beyond the connections. You did the wife a favour and the husband did you a favour by putting forward your CV for interview. I've met a bunch of billionaires in my life through work, but doing so hasn't changed my life one iota. On the other hand, giving up my (unused) dessert spoon on my first date to my (now) partner on our first date after she dropped hers has stuck in her mind and she claims it was one of the small things that contributed in to me getting a second date.
superfrank 4y ago
I read a book years ago called "Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives" that talked a lot about this. A lot of opportunities in our lives come from two or three levels out in our social circle. IIRC, the book specifically mentions friends of friends as one of the most common ways to find jobs. My favorite thing they talked about was how behaviors travel through social circles. A person you may not even know quitting smoking or losing weight could be the catalyst for you doing the same thing.
- liamzebedee 4y ago
  Thank you for the linkout, I'll put it on my reading list.
aaron695 4y ago
[dead]
tiborsaas 4y ago
This is not really the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon thing. He knew Pete already, so it's a direct referral, how he got to know him is not really interesting. I mean for him it definitely is, but I'm not sure what to get out of this :)
alexpotato 4y ago
A relative was recounting a story about the training program for people who have recently been promoted to Managing Director at a bank: "One of the first classes was about how to leverage our social networks. The instructor gets up and says 'What is something that you are interested in that you have no idea how to make happen?' Someone raises their hand and says 'My wife really loves Shakira and it would be amazing if she could perform at my wife's birthday.' Instructor: 'Anyone able to help with this?' Hand shoots up: 'My old college roommate works for Shakira's manager. I can put you in touch with him' " I also remember how some of the older social networks (Friendster and A Small World come to mine) would actually show you the "Kevin Bacon hops" between you and any other member. I always thought it was a cool feature although I can also see how it could be abused for Social Engineering.
- mongol 4y ago
  So what happened? Did Shakira perform at the birthday party?
whywhywouldyou 4y ago
This is one of those things that seems interesting/meaningful until you give it more than 10 seconds of thought, and then you realize this is just how life works. I could whip up an infinite amount of articles explaining how I "Found X through Y degrees of separation", where Y is unexpectedly large. It's trivial to work backwards through your life and reshape everything as a series of coincidences that got you to where you are. I got my job through 129 degrees of separation! You see, I was born in A, where I went to B school, and met C, who got me interested in D, which led me to discover I had a talent for E, and ... etc etc etc
- Maursault 4y ago
  Get on any plane in the world, it's pretty unlikely that you know any of the passengers. It turns out to be extremely likely, however, that at least one of the passengers knows someone that you also know.
  - jareklupinski 4y ago
    funny story: the only time I ever heard "Excuse me, are you jareklupinski?" was while I was looking for my seat on a plane, from a backer of a kickstarter I did years ago :)
  - kshacker 4y ago
    There was a time, when for 3-4 flights over a couple of years, I would always meet someone I knew, so much so that my pre-teen son (in those days) mentioned it. Does not happen any more though, my streak just ran out :) But I think if I use your approach, I may always find someone traveling who knows someone that I know.
    - smegger001 4y ago
      Reminds me of my grandparents while they were alive. No matter where we went with them (often on family vacations all over the US and Canada) they would find someone that they either knew or someone with whom they shared a mutual acquaintance.
shanebellone 4y ago
I had an odd experience where I found my last apartment 5 months after receiving a (wrong number) call from the owner. It was a surreal coincidence.
MikeDelta 4y ago
Everyone in the whole world is separated by a limited number. The notion that everyone is separated by six degrees [0] is apparently considered an urban myth, but social networks seemed to have an average of six jumps to reach everyone else (see link). Curious how it holds up nowadays. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation
Ekaros 4y ago
We actually aren't dealing with whole population of the planet, or even a country. Show the graphs in locations you attempt to connect to are much much denser.

53 points by liamzebedee 4y ago

Huh, after he concluded the story, it got a bit rambling and pop-philosophical. Featuring that Steve Jobs quote that might as well be printed on wood and be sold as kitsch decoration... Wahey, it's the season to be nice and jolly!

liamzebedee 4y ago
Haha, well you're right. The point of writing is to think. I never said it was going to be a scientific theory - and really, life is too complex a landscape to build a falsifiable theory anyways. We can still discuss anecdotes though.

angarg12 4y ago

Hey let me tell you how I found one of my jobs! I just moved to a new room and was speaking spanish on the phone. My new neighbor stopped me and asked if I could help their son to study Spanish. I accepted to do it for free. Since I didn't take a payment, the wife invited me for dinner as payment. During dinner I met the husband, who just happens to be a directive for a local company. After talking, it turns out that they were looking for a programmer. I was also looking for a new job. Of course this is a pointless anecdote. Rather than individual anecdotes, I prefer to look for a general framework, such as the luck surface area [1]. [1] https://modelthinkers.com/mental-model/surface-area-of-luck https://modelthinkers.com/mental-model/surface-area-of-luck

nly 4y ago
It also shows how social capital as a whole plays a role, above and beyond the connections. You did the wife a favour and the husband did you a favour by putting forward your CV for interview. I've met a bunch of billionaires in my life through work, but doing so hasn't changed my life one iota. On the other hand, giving up my (unused) dessert spoon on my first date to my (now) partner on our first date after she dropped hers has stuck in her mind and she claims it was one of the small things that contributed in to me getting a second date.

superfrank 4y ago

I read a book years ago called "Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives" that talked a lot about this. A lot of opportunities in our lives come from two or three levels out in our social circle. IIRC, the book specifically mentions friends of friends as one of the most common ways to find jobs. My favorite thing they talked about was how behaviors travel through social circles. A person you may not even know quitting smoking or losing weight could be the catalyst for you doing the same thing.

liamzebedee 4y ago
Thank you for the linkout, I'll put it on my reading list.

aaron695 4y ago

[dead]

tiborsaas 4y ago

This is not really the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon thing. He knew Pete already, so it's a direct referral, how he got to know him is not really interesting. I mean for him it definitely is, but I'm not sure what to get out of this :)

alexpotato 4y ago

A relative was recounting a story about the training program for people who have recently been promoted to Managing Director at a bank: "One of the first classes was about how to leverage our social networks. The instructor gets up and says 'What is something that you are interested in that you have no idea how to make happen?' Someone raises their hand and says 'My wife really loves Shakira and it would be amazing if she could perform at my wife's birthday.' Instructor: 'Anyone able to help with this?' Hand shoots up: 'My old college roommate works for Shakira's manager. I can put you in touch with him' " I also remember how some of the older social networks (Friendster and A Small World come to mine) would actually show you the "Kevin Bacon hops" between you and any other member. I always thought it was a cool feature although I can also see how it could be abused for Social Engineering.

mongol 4y ago
So what happened? Did Shakira perform at the birthday party?

whywhywouldyou 4y ago

This is one of those things that seems interesting/meaningful until you give it more than 10 seconds of thought, and then you realize this is just how life works. I could whip up an infinite amount of articles explaining how I "Found X through Y degrees of separation", where Y is unexpectedly large. It's trivial to work backwards through your life and reshape everything as a series of coincidences that got you to where you are. I got my job through 129 degrees of separation! You see, I was born in A, where I went to B school, and met C, who got me interested in D, which led me to discover I had a talent for E, and ... etc etc etc

Maursault 4y ago
Get on any plane in the world, it's pretty unlikely that you know any of the passengers. It turns out to be extremely likely, however, that at least one of the passengers knows someone that you also know.
- jareklupinski 4y ago
  funny story: the only time I ever heard "Excuse me, are you jareklupinski?" was while I was looking for my seat on a plane, from a backer of a kickstarter I did years ago :)
- kshacker 4y ago
  There was a time, when for 3-4 flights over a couple of years, I would always meet someone I knew, so much so that my pre-teen son (in those days) mentioned it. Does not happen any more though, my streak just ran out :) But I think if I use your approach, I may always find someone traveling who knows someone that I know.
  - smegger001 4y ago
    Reminds me of my grandparents while they were alive. No matter where we went with them (often on family vacations all over the US and Canada) they would find someone that they either knew or someone with whom they shared a mutual acquaintance.

shanebellone 4y ago

I had an odd experience where I found my last apartment 5 months after receiving a (wrong number) call from the owner. It was a surreal coincidence.

MikeDelta 4y ago

Everyone in the whole world is separated by a limited number. The notion that everyone is separated by six degrees [0] is apparently considered an urban myth, but social networks seemed to have an average of six jumps to reach everyone else (see link). Curious how it holds up nowadays. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation

Ekaros 4y ago

We actually aren't dealing with whole population of the planet, or even a country. Show the graphs in locations you attempt to connect to are much much denser.