Six Degrees of Separation

Surely everyone's played the Kevin Bacon drinking game, right so you know what I'm talking about here. A friend today told me that with the internet, it seems that you are only truly separated by 3 degrees now. I'm not willing to be that radical, but i'll say it's down to a good 4 degrees now. I'm not sure how close I really am to some of my Pakistani brothers. I do agree that the world's population, while growing, is actually getting much smaller. Using an online networking tool such as linkedin.com will demonstrate that to you. Currently, with my being directly connected to just 34 people, at the 3rd degree of separation i have 87,000 people. That's only being connected to 34 people. I sit there and i'll find someone I know, and see that I'm already connected to them through some random connection of people who I know for sure don't know each other. But they're getting closer to meeting everyday.

In general I think all this technology to make the world smaller is a good thing. It lets you stay in touch with people better, and find people you may have never known existed. This just happened to me recently. (I hope I didn't invade your privacy. I really did struggle before I sent that initial email, not knowing for sure if it was the right thing to do. You'll have to trust that I won't share the information with anyone, not here, not anywhere) I have many friends who I first met on the computer. While on the road in Iowa City, IA I was talked into going to a strip club with JS. He had a proclivity for them back in the day. A bbs that I was on at the time was based out of Iowa City, and I had asked in the local section if anyone could recommend a place to go. Someone responded with a place and we went. When one of the girls came by and we were chatting, somehow the bbs came up. As it turns out, she's a computer nerd too. We still keep in touch. I still have some friends that I've never actually met. I think it's just the way that things are now a days. With all my travel and the business I work in, I have friends and acquaintances all over the country, all over the world. Most people in my business are the same way. When the unfortunate happens and someone passes is when their families and home friends truly understand the depth of their friends and support network throughout the country. I remember a memorial service being held months after someone's death because it was the best time for everyone to get together and share their memories of a person. The family was stunned at the outpouring of cards and prayers at the time of the death, and then overwhelmed at how many people truly cared for their loved one when they were flown to the memorial service and met so many of the friends.


I also think all this technology can be frustrating. I seriously have 12 phone numbers to reach my family of 4. There are many times when I can't get in touch with ANY of them. Can you explain to me how this is possible? I'm the one who travels for a living, I'm the one who is on planes and in places with bad cell service, but chances are, if you call my cell phone, I'm going to answer it. If for some reason I don't answer it, if you leave a message, I really will call you back.