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Six degrees are standing for the degrees of freedom for the motion of objects in space: three for translation (up/down, left/right, forward/back) and three for rotation (yaw, pitch, roll).
Six degrees are symbolizing the connectedness of the world, also known as six degrees of separation between any pair of individuals who could connect via a chain of four other persons (mean number).
"Six degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet" (Mark Lynas, 2007) describes scenarios as a function of a gradually warming global atmosphere.
Confined Minds
In a figurative sense, six degrees of freedom also represent freedom of thought and rational analysis.
While Edgar Morin lamented an increasing fragmentation and separation of thoughts, in recent years we have witnessed a growing impoverishment of thought. In education, incentives are denounced as elitist, if not outright racist (the merit principle, STEM subjects). Distractions from digital content make focused thinking difficult. Artificial intelligence tempts us to stop thinking. Pressure to conform narrows the range of acceptable thoughts. Divergent opinions are punished with social ostracism or even economic ruin. Self-censorship and collectivization are confining free exchange of ideas.
Discourse gives way to conformity and self-censorship among many.
Divide et Impera
On the other hand, established media are losing their interpretive authority due to numerous independent journalists on social media and other platforms. In conjunction with the six degrees metaphor of a networked population, this makes it harder for politics and its associated media to manipulate facts and public opinion.
At the same time, tax-funded near-government-organizations are splitting societies: women/men, POC/whites, queer/hetero, youth/seniors, left-wing/right-wing, wealthy/poor, and urban dwellers against rural residents. This makes it difficult to form a broad opposition movement across such divides.
Ideology based Idiocracy
Six degree higher global temperature is close to worst case scenarios of modeled projections in climate research, used as justification for far-reaching legal requirements, up to and including the enshrinement of climate protection in the German Constitution.
Without evidence and despite contradictory facts, debates and regulations are focused on one culprit, CO2 emissions. An emotional, dogmatically driven campaign obscures the view of a rational analysis and a realistic path to replacing fossil fuels (instead of pushing German industrial degrowth).