It’s a small world afterall.

When you talk about six degrees of separation, I think of The Script. The irish rock band of Dublin that came up with a song to the words of that. In it the lyrics of the song orbits around the whole idea of a theory “Six degrees of separation” that was introduced  in the video Six degrees.

“First, you think the worst is a broken heart
What’s gonna kill you is the second part
And the third, Is when your world splits down the middle
And fourth, you’re gonna think that you fixed yourself
Fifth, you see them out with someone else
And the sixth, is when you admit that you may have messed up a little.

No there’s no starting over,
Without finding closure,
You’d take them back,
No hesitation,
That’s when you know you’ve reached the sixth degree of separation”

Even though this might come off as a sappy emo love song, but, the idea of it is there. I see this as different phases or degrees you go through in a real separation. Whether is it separation by marriage, a relationship, emotional, mental, physical, the song is a  journey from the starting point of the separation and the degree(s) that it will take you to.  Similar to the experiment that was shown in the video, no matter our big our world is, the theory of “six degrees” is evident that our world is connected in just six handshakes. or maybe lesser.

While it is known that six degrees of separation could be a chain, or a circle- always bringing you back to a person, bumping into a certain person that you once loved or knew…, somehow you’re still bound and unable to completely detach yourself from that “chain” of network ( friends to lovers to strangers? Technically, that’s never the case. you’re never strangers with your ex lover. why? Because being a stranger means being unaccustomed to or unacquainted with something specified but no, you have mutual friends!)

In the readings of Watts, Duncan J. Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. London: Vintage, 2003. Print. (Extract, PDF), he talks about how being too connected could be either good news or bad news to us.  Mentioning about the use of electricity to hubs within the human cell.. I’d like to put things simpler, it just like having too many friends. Sometimes having too many connections isn’t a good thing, it causes drama if you can’t keep up with ur “connections”

 

I was thinking while reading up and watching the video. What are things that make the world “smaller” and connected? My first thought was music. Without the treble clef … would we be able to make music? Lyrics, tunes, instruments, the singers, studio works and all the different components that make up a song, these are essential and the fundamentals of making a song. Music acts like a main hub of connection.

With that, through music, people can experience different cultures and different emotions. The world is also linked together through music because people can all relate to the emotions and stories told in songs. Furthermore, when people find similarities in musical tastes, they tend to become friends too!!!


Read more about Venessa’s take on six degrees of separation here!