It took researchers a little over half a century to find evidence that only six acquaintances separate us from meeting any random person in the world.
No matter who you are or where you are from, you are only six people away from meeting any random person on Earth. The six handshake theory has been ingrained in society since it was first expressed in 1967. But the Daily Mail writes that the mathematician now claims to have found his confirmation.
It took researchers a little over 50 years to find confirmation of this theory. Now an international team of researchers claims they have been able to prove this phenomenon. The authors of the study note that they were able to confirm the six handshake theory once they determined that the goal of most people is not to make many connections, but to make the right connections.
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During the study, the scientists used a game theory approach, starting with nodes A, B, C, and D, each of which represents people who can connect with neighbors outside themselves during each round of the game. cries. The researchers found that buyers mentally analyze the costs and benefits when connecting, actually determining who on those networks is important enough to connect with and how much they can benefit from it. The game is considered complete when the participants have exhausted the connections they want to establish in order to increase their social status.
In the next phase of the work, the concept of “six handshakes” came into play. One of the lead authors of the study, Dr. According to Baruch Barzel, when he and his colleagues did the math, they found something surprising: The process always results in social ways “centered around the number six.” Each person acts independently, without knowing the network as a whole, but this independent game creates the structure of the entire network, which leads to the small world phenomenon and the repeated order of six degrees. Note that 14 scientists from Israel, Spain, Italy, Russia, Slovenia and Chile participated in the research.
The six handshake theory was first expressed in a story by Hungarian writer Frygyes Karinty in 1929. But it came to the fore in 1967 when social psychologist Stanley Migram tackled what he called the “little split” of the world. However, his experiment had some drawbacks, so it was not possible to actually confirm the existence of the six handshake theory.
Since then, this theory has been repeatedly tested by ordinary Twitter and Facebook users, as well as researchers. Starting from the idea that every actor in Hollywood is related to him, this theory also came to the fore in popular culture with Kevin Bacon’s Six Degrees game.
Previously Focus He wrote that scientists have discovered that number theory is hidden in the genetics of evolution.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.