Six Degrees of Celebrity Separation

Dylan Spence

Picture this: It’s nighttime, and your eyes feel heavy after watching hours of your favorite show. “One more episode,” you tell yourself, struggling to stay awake. Let’s be honest, the only reason you like this show is because of that one actor with a British accent. You’ve binged all their shows and movies, liked every TikTok edit you see of them, and scrolled through their Instagram at least a couple times a week. We think of celebrities so highly that it seems impossible for us to all be living on the same planet. They are otherworldly beings, while we are mere peasants. 

We’ve all had a phase like this—a phase where we can’t get the thought, “Gosh, I would do anything to meet them,” out of our minds—whether it be for our favorite singer, actor, or idol. It lasts for a little while (if you're normal), maybe a few months or even a year, until we realize that it’s unrealistic or “delulu” to be obsessed with someone that doesn’t even know you exist. 

There’s no way that a normal person like me could possibly have any connection to a person that amazing, right?

Well let me introduce to you Six Degrees of Separation, an idea suggesting that any one person can be connected to any other person in the world within six degrees, whether these connections be through family, friends, acquaintances, or coworkers. The list goes on.

This concept was first studied in a book of short stories written by Frigyes Karinthy, called “Everything is Different,” where he explored the field of network theory in a story titled “Chains” or “Chain-Links”. The book was written after World War l when technology was becoming more widespread. For example, radio broadcasts were able to connect people all across America, shrinking the social distance between people, and allowing friendships to span further distances. Due to this shift in global dynamics, Karinthy hypothesized that any two people could be connected within five acquaintances. Karinthy is now regarded as the originator of Six Degrees of Separation.

To further illustrate this concept, we interviewed Dax Philips (PM ‘27) to get a real world example of Seven Degrees of Separation. Philips first explained that one of his favorite artists is Lana Del Rey. He then shared a story of his mom encountering singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz at a restaurant in Northern California in 2016. Already, this counts as two degrees of separation, from Philips’s mom to Kravitz. Because of Kravitz’s collaboration on the song “Fly” with Lana Del Rey, Philips can connect himself to Lana Del Rey within not six degrees but only four.

While this concept may just be for fun, it serves as a reminder that we are never as far from someone or something as we think. The world may seem huge, but it’s not statistically impossible for you to meet the celebrity of your dreams. In fact, researchers Eric Horvitz and Jure Leskovec estimated that 78 percent of random pairs could be connected within 6.6 degrees. This statistic combined with living in Southern California bridges the gap even more! So as you're watching a fancam of your favorite idol in bed tonight, remember that you’re probably a lot closer to them than you think. Stay delulu, OCSA!