How many people do you know?

[Miss Chicken]

In another thread I implied that I knew thousands of people though what I should have said is that I know or have known thousands of people during my lifetime.

This included my family and extended family - parents, brother and sisters. cousins, second cousins, uncles, aunts, great uncles and great aunts, my Dad's cousins, grandparents, my own children, my cousins' children, great-nieces and nephews, my in-laws, my sisters' in-laws)

Former boyfriends and their families, my sisters' boyfriends.

Other friends and their families. My sisters' friends, my children's friends etc.

Kids I knew at school and some of their brothers and sisters. People I knew in class with when I studied as an adult.

Neighbours, their families and their visitors especially at my former home (where I lived for nearly 30 years)

Children and parents I knew from my childrens' schools.

My teachers, my children's teachers and other teachers.

People I have worked with etc

People I have known because of their profession ie my doctors, dentists, shopkeepers etc.

etc. etc.

How many people do you or have you known? It is up to your to determine what 'know' means.

 

[WillsBabe]

This is an interesting question, and I haven't thought about it before. I often think that I don't know enough people, or have enough people in my circle of friends and acquaintances. To be honest I have no idea how many people I have known. I doubt that it would reach even 1000, though.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I've met thousands. But I'm not sure how many of them I could honestly say that I know.

 

[ThankQ]

I've met thousands. But I'm not sure how many of them I could honestly say that I know.

Yeah, what's the standard for "know"?

Do I have to recall having an interaction with that person? Do I have to be able to pick the mugshot of out of a six-pack? Do I have to remember the name? First and last? I don't remember the names of every girl I've...dated, but I would certainly say I KNOW (or knew) them.

Hard to say. Tens of thousands, I would guess.

OP... did someone challenge you on "knowing thousands" of people? Sound perfectly reasonable to me.

 

[RandyS]

Over the course of the past 42 years? I dunno. Millions maybe. At least four of the most significant are dead now.

I wish they weren't.

 

[RoJoHen]

It's 2012. The number of people you know is equal to the number of Facebook friends you have.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I've met thousands. But I'm not sure how many of them I could honestly say that I know.

Yeah, what's the standard for "know"?

Do I have to recall having an interaction with that person? Do I have to be able to pick the mugshot of out of a six-pack? Do I have to remember the name? First and last? I don't remember the names of every girl I've...dated, but I would certainly say I KNOW (or knew) them.

Hard to say. Tens of thousands, I would guess.

OP... did someone challenge you on "knowing thousands" of people? Sound perfectly reasonable to me.

As I said in the OP it is up to you to define what you mean by 'know'. I would define it as people I have personally met who I would still recognise either by face or by name.

In the other post I said that I had never met someone who I knew had an extra digit despite knowing thousands of people. I was then asked if I well enough acquainted with thousand of people to know whether they have an extra finger or toe.

I would say that I easily known 1000 that well and maybe, over the years 2000 people I know less well. Family members and in-laws alone would come to more than 250 people as my mother was one of 11 children, my grandmother one of 20 (though I only know/knew a few of them) , and my mother-in-law one of 16.

 

[Bisz]

My contact list at work, which includes just a fraction of all the people I come into contact with at work, is at around 600 or so entries. These are people I have had specific reason to be in touch with about something, for the most part.

Based on that, If I had to guess in five seconds how many people I know professionally and personally I would say 2,000.

In this case I'll define "know" as have had some sort of conversation with, usually on more than one occasion, with a high likelihood but no guarantee of knowing the person's name.

 

[Maurice]

Over the course of the past 42 years? I dunno. Millions maybe. At least four of the most significant are dead now.

I wish they weren't.

Millions? To meet even one million people in 42 years you'd have to have met 65 people a day every day for your entire life. Basically impossible.

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah...a million is a lot.

I'd say I know a thousand, maybe.

 

[JarodRussell]

And do people you have seen on TV count? Because I "know" a lot of those people better than my neighbor's nephew. So it's really hard to say unless we define it a bit more strictly.

 

[RoJoHen]

And do people you have seen on TV count? Because I "know" a lot of those people better than my neighbor's nephew. So it's really hard to say unless we define it a bit more strictly.

Would they recognize you if you met them in person?

 

[tomalak301]

It's 2012. The number of people you know is equal to the number of Facebook friends you have.

Other than family members, this could be accurate. I know a lot of people (Most of whom I have friended on Facebook) but to actually "know" someone, it's maybe in the single digits.

 

[Miss Chicken]

And do people you have seen on TV count? Because I "know" a lot of those people better than my neighbor's nephew. So it's really hard to say unless we define it a bit more strictly.

As I said, it is up to you to define 'know'.

I personally have defined it, as I stated in a post above as

"I would define it as people I have personally met who I would still recognise either by face or by name"

however I accept that many other people might want to include people they haven't met in person but have developed an online relationship with. If they want to people are free to include such people.

Bisz has also given his own definition. and a number to go with it.

 

[Holdfast]

Weird thread... I suppose in a way it's a flipside of the 6 Degrees/Kevin Bacon game. I heard somewhere that modern telecommunications have reduced the critical number of links to just 3.5, which I can actually believe. However, I suspect that shrinkage is massively down to a growing number of "hubs in personal form" (certain people who by dint of position or profession encounter a disproportionately high number of equally well-connected people), so it would be tricky to work back from the connections number to figure out how many people we each know.

 

[scotpens]

Yeah, what's the standard for "know"?

If we stick to the Biblical definition, that would narrow the list down quite a bit.

OP... did someone challenge you on "knowing thousands" of people? Sound perfectly reasonable to me.

’Twas I.

And to have made even the briefest acquaintance of thousands of people over one’s lifetime — well, it still seems like an awful lot. But then, I’ve never been the sociable or gregarious type. In fact, at least half the people I currently know are here on Trek BBS. My online geek circle, as I like to say.

As I said, it is up to you to define 'know'.

I personally have defined it, as I stated in a post above as

"I would define it as people I have personally met who I would still recognise either by face or by name"

however I accept that many other people might want to include people they haven't met in person but have developed an online relationship with.

Indeed, thanks to the internet, it’s now quite common to be better acquainted with people halfway around the globe than with your next-door neighbors. Which is good thing if your next-door neighbors are assholes.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Weird thread... I suppose in a way it's a flipside of the 6 Degrees/Kevin Bacon game. I heard somewhere that modern telecommunications have reduced the critical number of links to just 3.5, which I can actually believe. However, I suspect that shrinkage is massively down to a growing number of "hubs in personal form" (certain people who by dint of position or profession encounter a disproportionately high number of equally well-connected people), so it would be tricky to work back from the connections number to figure out how many people we each know.

Even I can get to Kevin Bacon easily if we are allowed to count personally knowing an actor rather than being in a movie with them

Me

1) Genevieve Picot -Australian actress who I have met several times, most recently at my mother's funeral. Gen was in the Australia movie Proof with Russell Crowe. Gen and I usually met at funerals or weddings nowadays though I have met her at other times as well.

2) Russell Crowe was in Mystery, Alaska with Maury Chaykin

3) Maury Chaykin was in Where the Truth Lies with Kevin Bacon.

 

[RoJoHen]

And to have made even the briefest acquaintance of thousands of people over one’s lifetime — well, it still seems like an awful lot. But then, I’ve never been the sociable or gregarious type. In fact, at least half the people I currently know are here on Trek BBS. My online geek circle, as I like to say.

I currently work with about 30 people at my job's location, and I have to regularly interact with about 20 more from various other locations. My previous job had about 100 people on staff at any given time, and taking into account all the turnover we had in the 6 years I worked there, I could probably bump that number up to 200. I have also met and spent time with many of their friends and families, so we could probably throw another 50 people on there.

So that's 300 people right there just from my last two jobs.

I don't even want to start counting the people I know from college and high school.

 

[TorontoTrekker]

True story: about 10 years ago, I was the recording secretary to the Board of Directors of the 2003 Worldcon. Every so often during meetings, someone would turn to me and say, "Lance, you know everyone. Can you contact [x] for us?"

My response was always the same: "I don't know everyone. It's impossible to know everyone. The very idea that I know everyone is ridiculous. That being said, I do know [x], and yes, I can contact them for you."

Every. Single. Time.

So I have a bit of a reputation around these parts for knowing everyone. Or at least more people than most.

It's 2012. The number of people you know is equal to the number of Facebook friends you have.

Well, going by that criterion, I know precisely 607 people.

But among those 607 Facebook friends, there are probably 50 to 100 or so whom I've never met in person, and a small handful of celebrities whom I've either never met or wouldn't consider to be friends in the usual sense of the word. (I still don't know why I got friend requests there from some people, unless they're members here and I just didn't recognize the name, or they just went through all their friends' friends and sent requests to everyone they found that way.)

And then you have to add all the people I know who aren't on Facebook, or who are but with whom I'm not friends there.

I have 1063 addresses in my email address book, but there are duplicates there and again, there are some people with whom I've communicated via email whom I wouldn't say I know in any meaningful way.

Taking that into account, and given what I said in my first couple of paragraphs, it wouldn't shock me at all if I knew 2500 or more people.

 

[RandyS]

Over the course of the past 42 years? I dunno. Millions maybe. At least four of the most significant are dead now.

I wish they weren't.

Millions? To meet even one million people in 42 years you'd have to have met 65 people a day every day for your entire life. Basically impossible.

Well, I did say "I dunno".

Anyway, math is the single most evil thing since the invention of the politician.