I know Obama
There’s this interesting theory that I have recently found out about (at Rik Otten’s European Lobbying class). The six degrees of separation theory (aka Human Web) states that ‘if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth’ (from Wikipedia) Yeah, I know it sounds intricate, but it’s rather simple to understand.
Let’s take, for example, president of the United States and… me. According to the Human Web, there’s a chain of (less than) six people between me and the president. I know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows Obama.
I was at the office on Thursday and a colleague of mine was reading a news on Obama’s visit to the MIT. A few minutes later, she got a message from her cousin, who’s working for MIT. ‘I’m gonna meet Obama tomorrow’, the message said. The whole second floor was thrilled with the news of such presidential proximity. The thought of the six degrees of separation instantly came to my mind. I guess I ‘know’ Obama now.
