The surprising origin of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game
In short: While most people associate the concept with Hollywood starlets and film credits, the idea of human interconnectedness is much older. Long before the 1990s parlor game emerged, writers were already theorizing how technology might shrink our world through a chain of social connections.
A group of Albright College students in Reading, Pennsylvania, originally invented the well-known parlour game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. This group developed the game in 1994, capitalizing on the actor's prolific filmography during that decade. Participants in this game try to bridge any performer to Kevin Bacon using a maximum of six shared movie roles. The number of steps required to reach the star is referred to as that actor's "Bacon Number." This popular pastime relies on the actor's extensive filmography. Players aim to link any performer to the star through a chain of no more than six shared movie roles.
Yet, the social and mathematical principle behind the game—that every two individuals are linked via a series of acquaintances—possesses far older origins. This concept of six degrees of separation traces back to at least 1929. It was explored by Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy in his short story "Chain-Links," found in the book Everything is Different. The concept was first explored in the short story titled "Chain-Links." This work appeared within the collection titled Everything is Different.
Karinthy used his fiction to propose that technological advances were effectively shrinking the world. He suggested that despite increasing global populations and vast physical distances, the world was becoming more interconnected. While the Kevin Bacon iteration turned this sociological theory into a competitive game, the fundamental premise of human interconnectedness remains a cornerstone of how we view social networks today. Karinthy's narrative suggested that technology would bridge vast distances between people. This trend of increasing global interconnectedness was predicted to continue indefinitely.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Who Invented the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon Game?
- Also: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon | parlour game | Britannica
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