The ARI Institute would like to recommend viewing Six Degrees of Separation, a fascinating BBC documentary unfolding the science behind the idea of six degrees of separation. Originally thought to be an urban myth, it now appears that anyone on the planet can be connected in just a few steps of association.

Six degrees of separation is at the heart of a major scientific breakthrough; that there might be a law that Nature uses to organize itself and that now promises to solve some of its deepest mysteries.

This revelation is the result of many years of research by scientists that have dedicated their lives to analyzing networks and global processes in our world.  Some of the trends they discover along the way have no scientific explanation as of yet, although there is a distinct pattern in everything they see.  This area between proven scientific information and elements in our lives that are still not fully revealed leaves room for us to grow as individuals and as a society. Imagine how much closer we would be to solving the world’s problems if we were all concerned and engaged to some extent in understanding these patterns. We would be that much closer to understanding how Nature works, and then would simply adjust ourselves accordingly.

Excerpts from Six Degrees of Separation:

“Here was the secret behind almost every network: the structure that nature uses to spin its webs, and once it can be seen, it revealed that networks have peculiar strengths and weaknesses, with implications for all of us.”

“It’s really kind of a beautiful notion that we are all connected in some kind of way.”

“Six degrees has revealed a new view of nature and reminder that if the world is small then we are all in this together.”

“Everything appears to be connected in ways that were absolutely not predictable just ten years ago – or even five years ago.  It’s going to change the way we think about the world.”

“Networked science is the science of the 21^st century.“

“All the major problems in science today depend on understanding networks.”