Big Thinkers India Series – Duncan Watts

Duncan Watts was the latest speaker in the Yahoo! Big Thinkers India series. His talk, entitled “Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age” drew a record number of attendees – over 700 – including people from tech R&D, start-ups and academia. Organized by Yahoo! India Research & Development, the event was held at The Grand Ballroom, Leela Palace in Bangalore.

In his talk, Watts introduced the “small world” phenomenon – the idea that each of us can be connected to everyone else through only six degrees of separation – inspired by the work of Harvard social-psychologist Stanley Milgram. Watts explained how the small-world problem has led to an explosion of interest in networks by physicists and computer scientists, leading to what is now known as the "science of networks". Finally, he discussed the relevance of network science to a range of applications, from individuals searching for jobs and organizations solving complex problems, to the spread of disease epidemics and the cascade-like dynamics of cultural fads. In an increasingly interconnected world, he argued, it is not sufficient simply to recognize that we are all connected; we must understand both the patterns of those connections and the way they drive our individual and collective behavior.

The talk elicited significant positive feedback from the audience and a perpetual stream of questions that resulted in a 45 minute Q&A session.

View more pictures from the event here or watch the presentation.