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I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

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Re: I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

#11

Post by jareklupinski »

Maursault wrote: post #9
whywhywouldyou wrote: post #8

This is one of those things that seems interesting/meaningful until you give it more than 10 seconds of thought, and then you realize this is just how life works. I could whip up an infinite amount of articles explaining how I "Found X through Y degrees of separation", where Y is unexpectedly large. It's trivial to work backwards through your life and reshape everything as a series of coincidences that got you to whe…

Get on any plane in the world, it's pretty unlikely that you know any of the passengers. It turns out to be extremely likely, however, that at least one of the passengers knows someone that you also know.

funny story: the only time I ever heard "Excuse me, are you jareklupinski?" was while I was looking for my seat on a plane, from a backer of a kickstarter I did years ago :)

Re: I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

#12

Post by liamzebedee »

whywhywouldyou wrote: post #8

This is one of those things that seems interesting/meaningful until you give it more than 10 seconds of thought, and then you realize this is just how life works. I could whip up an infinite amount of articles explaining how I "Found X through Y degrees of separation", where Y is unexpectedly large. It's trivial to work backwards through your life and reshape everything as a series of coincidences that got you to whe…

Haha congratulations! You got it.

Re: I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

#13

Post by liamzebedee »

superfrank wrote: post #4

I read a book years ago called "Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives" that talked a lot about this. A lot of opportunities in our lives come from two or three levels out in our social circle. IIRC, the book specifically mentions friends of friends as one of the most common ways to find jobs. My favorite thing they talked about was how behaviors travel through social circ…

Thank you for the linkout, I'll put it on my reading list.

Re: I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

#14

Post by liamzebedee »

netsharc wrote: post #2

Huh, after he concluded the story, it got a bit rambling and pop-philosophical. Featuring that Steve Jobs quote that might as well be printed on wood and be sold as kitsch decoration... Wahey, it's the season to be nice and jolly!

Haha, well you're right. The point of writing is to think. I never said it was going to be a scientific theory - and really, life is too complex a landscape to build a falsifiable theory anyways. We can still discuss anecdotes though.

Re: I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

#15

Post by liamzebedee »

whywhywouldyou wrote: post #8

This is one of those things that seems interesting/meaningful until you give it more than 10 seconds of thought, and then you realize this is just how life works. I could whip up an infinite amount of articles explaining how I "Found X through Y degrees of separation", where Y is unexpectedly large. It's trivial to work backwards through your life and reshape everything as a series of coincidences that got you to whe…

> It's trivial to work backwards through your life and reshape everything as a series of coincidences that got you to where you are.

What if you worked forwards based on this idea of coincidence engineering?

Re: I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

#16

Post by rjbwork »

liamzebedee wrote: post #15
whywhywouldyou wrote: post #8

This is one of those things that seems interesting/meaningful until you give it more than 10 seconds of thought, and then you realize this is just how life works. I could whip up an infinite amount of articles explaining how I "Found X through Y degrees of separation", where Y is unexpectedly large. It's trivial to work backwards through your life and reshape everything as a series of coincidences that got you to whe…

> It's trivial to work backwards through your life and reshape everything as a series of coincidences that got you to where you are. What if you worked forwards based on this idea of coincidence engineering?

Well, now you've got Foundation.

Re: I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

#17

Post by kshacker »

Maursault wrote: post #9
whywhywouldyou wrote: post #8

This is one of those things that seems interesting/meaningful until you give it more than 10 seconds of thought, and then you realize this is just how life works. I could whip up an infinite amount of articles explaining how I "Found X through Y degrees of separation", where Y is unexpectedly large. It's trivial to work backwards through your life and reshape everything as a series of coincidences that got you to whe…

Get on any plane in the world, it's pretty unlikely that you know any of the passengers. It turns out to be extremely likely, however, that at least one of the passengers knows someone that you also know.

There was a time, when for 3-4 flights over a couple of years, I would always meet someone I knew, so much so that my pre-teen son (in those days) mentioned it. Does not happen any more though, my streak just ran out :)

But I think if I use your approach, I may always find someone traveling who knows someone that I know.

Re: I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

#18

Post by mongol »

alexpotato wrote: post #7

A relative was recounting a story about the training program for people who have recently been promoted to Managing Director at a bank: "One of the first classes was about how to leverage our social networks. The instructor gets up and says 'What is something that you are interested in that you have no idea how to make happen?' Someone raises their hand and says 'My wife really loves Shakira and it would be amazing i…

So what happened? Did Shakira perform at the birthday party?

Re: I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

#19

Post by galfarragem »

whywhywouldyou wrote: post #8

This is one of those things that seems interesting/meaningful until you give it more than 10 seconds of thought, and then you realize this is just how life works. I could whip up an infinite amount of articles explaining how I "Found X through Y degrees of separation", where Y is unexpectedly large. It's trivial to work backwards through your life and reshape everything as a series of coincidences that got you to whe…

There’s even a word for that: serendipity.

Re: I found my house through 6 degrees of separation

#20

Post by nly »

angarg12 wrote: post #3

Hey let me tell you how I found one of my jobs! I just moved to a new room and was speaking spanish on the phone. My new neighbor stopped me and asked if I could help their son to study Spanish. I accepted to do it for free. Since I didn't take a payment, the wife invited me for dinner as payment. During dinner I met the husband, who just happens to be a directive for a local company. After talking, it turns out that…

It also shows how social capital as a whole plays a role, above and beyond the connections.

You did the wife a favour and the husband did you a favour by putting forward your CV for interview.

I've met a bunch of billionaires in my life through work, but doing so hasn't changed my life one iota. On the other hand, giving up my (unused) dessert spoon on my first date to my (now) partner on our first date after she dropped hers has stuck in her mind and she claims it was one of the small things that contributed in to me getting a second date.

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