Genealogy Chat

That's correct and I was the first girlfriend (when I was 14) of a TV producer (when he was 13) well known for fly on the wall documentaries, so there's a connection for anyone who wants it!!!!!!!!

Ah! a bit like the '' I know someone who's sister is a school friend of the popstar that knew an astronaut. that went to the moon??'' Bob

There was a programme on tv some time ago which 'proved' this small world phenomenon of 6 steps. They started with someone in England and with 6 steps he (or it could have been a she) connected to a nomad or similar living in the middle of Africa. It sort of cheated in that the first person he was 'connected to' worked in the media and, therefore, had thousands of contacts, so they chose one who had travelled widely and also picked up loads of contacts. Often in newspapers they will show 6 steps between 2 Hollywood stars on the lines that A worked with B, who is the sister of C, who is married to D, who was in a film with E, who is the uncle of A. You get the drift. Liz

That's mind boggling!!! Thank you. I think I understand the one step, two step explanation. Deb:)

I always thought the first reason was correct and this seems to be what Wikipedia think also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_seperation Sam x

From Wikipedia 'Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that if you are one 'step' away from each person you know, then you are two 'steps' away from each person who is known by one of the people you know, and you are no more than six 'steps' away from each person on earth. Several studies, such as Milgram's small world experiment have been conducted to empirically measure this connectedness. While the exact number of links between people differs depending on the population measured, it is generally found to be relatively small. Hence, six degrees of separation is somewhat synonymous with the idea of the 'small world' phenomenon'

Is anyone familiar with the term 'six degree's of seperation'? I've asked a few friends and been told two different versions. One is that we are all seperated genetically by just six degree's(hard to fathom) and the other explanation was that we are no longer genetically related after six generations. I'm totally confused!