Trial Separation

‘IT has long been said that any two people on the planet can be connected in six steps – the so-called six degrees of separation.

”And I’ve had that Kevin Bacon”

And now scientists have proved that that really is the case – by the power of e-mail.

Researchers at Columbia University asked computer users to contact a named individual somewhere else in the world within as few e-mails as possible.

The original user would therefore e-mail a contact more likely to know the target and that person would do likewise until the mail eventually reached its destination.

To test the theory, the Mail sets itself the difficult task of linking Louise Griffiths, Fame Academy hopeful and girlfriend of racing driver Jenson Button, with David Beckham.

Lo and behold, Button’s former team manager is Flavio Briatore, who used to date Naomi Campbell, who is a friend of Nelson Mandela, who met Beckham on England’s tour of South Africa earlier this year.

Not all chains are so straightforward – for instance, Bruce from Eastbourne was asked to get in contact with Olga at Novosibirsk University in Siberia.

Others are much more straightforward – scientists, for instance, are currently testing the theory that Ulrika Jonsson can be linked with every male on the planet in just one step.

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Posted: 8th, August 2003 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink