SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
- Edmund Thorold
- Feb 10, 2024
- 4 min read
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In most novels, this is not a concept that authors generally think about.
Well, would they?
Most of the time, the protagonists are interacting with each other, so most of the characters only have, at most, two degrees of separation.
That's really NOT a true reflection of real life, is it?
Folklore tells us we should believe in up to six degrees of separation as being closer to the right number.
Does that make a difference in how a novel is written?
Sure, it does; otherwise, we would hardly ever have a joined-up story.
However, I went a stage further and thought, supposing the six stages of separation is a thing of the past, supposing with all the social media platforms we use in the Western world, it's more like, say, three.
But are those really 'connections'?
It's not like we really know those people, even though Facebook dutifully asks you to confirm you 'know' the person before asking to connect.
Well, I thought I would put the question to something that claims to be far more intelligent than I am. I'm sure you are probably familiar with it. It's called ChatGPT, one of the
new forms of Artificial Intelligence well on its way to making me redundant.
But not quite yet. It will still need to sharpen its game.
ME: Does the concept of six degrees of separation actually exist, or is it just a popular type of folklore that is not really proven?
ANSWER OF THE ALL-POWERFUL ONE: The concept of "six degrees of separation" refers to the idea that any two people in the world can be connected through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries. While the concept originated from social experiments and theoretical models, its existence and applicability have been supported by various studies and empirical evidence. Although it's important to note that the precise degree of separation can vary.
FURTHER COMMENT FROM A HUMAN FOLLOWS BELOW.
Now, those weaselly words in the last sentence are its 'get out of jail' card, which actually makes most of what it said above quite worthless.
The fact of the matter is that in certain instances six might be some sort of mean average based on empirical evidence, but actually, if one sees the effect of social media platforms, even like LinkedIn, you can see the actual number of degrees of separation is probably falling fast.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing that we are now living more and more in a super-connected world?
Not sure of the answer to that any more than whether I can tell you if ChatGPT has changed my writing habits or not.
Certainly, I would never let it write something that I would copy and paste into a novel.
It's voice is just too irritating, something between a left-wing Anglican priest and my late maiden aunt.
Did I mention the BBC commentators yet or the Guardian journalists?
Better not; I might quickly get myself into trouble and worse, upset my more woke-oriented readers.
Yes, I love you too, and part of my challenge is hoping against hope I don't upset your fading violet feelings with inappropriate language that should have died out decades ago.
Quite so, you already have some examples to quote back to me, I'm sure.
Though, I am loving the chance to put my quite old but still functioning human brain up against the best ChatGPT can throw at me.
I have discovered that you can, with a certain amount of crafty wording, almost get it to change its opinion from time to time.
That's an endearing human trait that it has. It's influenced by context and tone, even if the databases it is accessing have not changed very much since the previous inquiry.
Can you trick it? Not really; it's got wise to the 'bullshit baffles brains' approach.
But once you get into its head, it's game on, and the fun starts.
I would love to have your thoughts on your experiences with this still crude form of what claims the label 'intelligence.'
Is it really intelligence or just a more sophisticated manipulation of databases?
I would say that the intelligence bit is more about its ability to gather intelligence than to make the best use of it.
When it gets that and has some power to go further, then we should start to worry.
Right now, we have at least six degrees of separation from it and most of the others on this planet. That's probably a plus for me.
Dive into the world of human connections and degrees of separation. From folklore to social media, explore how our connectedness shapes storytelling and daily life. Join the conversation! #DegreesOfSeparation #SocialConnectivity #Storytelling
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