A Small World After All

Researchers studying connectedness on social networks have now proposed that “the average number of acquaintances separating any two people no matter who they are … is not six but 3.9.” Eman Yasser Daraghmi and Shyan-Ming Yuan, of the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, created a database on Facebook that included 950 million people, The Pacific Standard reports. After eliminating duplicate and fake accounts as well as celebrities, the researchers used advanced statistical methods to calculate how far everyone was spread out on the network.

via You Are Connected To Everyone On Earth By Just 4 Degrees Now

What should we expect in a world where more people feel connected to more people? Would we expect fewer boundaries of prejudices and hostilities and decreased tolerance for injustices and inequalities? Would we see new levels of compassion, ethics and empathy?

This is a new narrative for human societies, bound to impact the way we view the world and accordingly, the way we live.