pienmaailmaisiksi

Pienmaailmaisiksi is a Finnish term that translates to "small-world phenomenon" in English. It describes the concept that the world is smaller than one might initially assume, in the sense that any two individuals are likely to be connected through a relatively short chain of acquaintances. This idea is often illustrated by the "six degrees of separation" theory, which suggests that most people are no more than six connections away from any other person on Earth.

The pienmaailmaisiksi concept has roots in social network theory and has been explored through various experiments and studies. Early research, such as Stanley Milgram's "small-world experiment" in the 1960s, provided empirical evidence for this phenomenon. Participants were given a letter to deliver to a target individual, and they could only send it to someone they knew on a first-name basis whom they thought might be closer to the target. Milgram found that the average chain length was surprisingly short.

More recently, with the advent of the internet and social media platforms, the pienmaailmaisiksi concept has gained renewed attention. Studies of online social networks, like Facebook and LinkedIn, have often shown even shorter average path lengths between users, suggesting that digital connections further shrink the perceived size of our social world. The term highlights the interconnectedness of human societies and the surprising proximity of individuals, regardless of geographical distance.