
'Twas way back when in '67 when American sociologist Stanley Milgram tested the Six Degrees of Seperation - the theory concocted by a Hungarian writer in 1929, proposing that anyone on earth can be connected through no more than five intermediaries. Milgrim conducted an experiment in which a number of participants were given the name, occupation and general location of random stranger living on the opposite side of the country. They were instructed to send the package to someone they knew (on a first-name basis) who they thought was most likely, out of all their acquaintances to know the recipient. On average, the successful delivery of a package took between 5 and 7 intermediaries. After the findings were published, the term "Six Degrees of Separation" was coined and there remained as part of pop culture. In recognition of our own Shanghai-style Six Degrees of Separation, we're celebrating tomorrow night (Thu Sep 21st) with an event at Fabrique for what will be the sixth Shanghai Social Series. In this city, we guess, the degree of separation is even less.. everybody really does seem to know everybody else.