How interrelationships work

There is a database of influential people called NNDB. Currently the database contains information on 32,000 people. NNDB describes itself like this:

NNDB is an intelligence aggregator that tracks the activities of people we have determined to be noteworthy, both living and dead. Superficially, it seems much like a “Who’s Who” where a noted person’s curriculum vitae is available (the usual information such as date of birth, a biography, and other essential facts.)

But it mostly exists to document the connections between people, many of which are not always obvious. A person’s otherwise inexplicable behavior is often understood by examining the crowd that person has been associating with.

A friend pointed me to a tool called NNDB Mapper, which lets you visually chart the relationships between these people. It is a fascinating tool to play with, because it quickly uncovers connections that would not otherwise be obvious. For example, if you create a new map and start with Stephen Colbert, you can see the shows he’s worked on. So you click on The Daily Show and see, obviously, Jon Stewart. If you click on him, you discover a girlfriend named Tawny Kitaen. Clicking on her you realize that she also dated Jerry Seinfeld. And as you click a few more times you realize that the comedy community is fairly tight like this. They are all interrelated. Obviously if you start with someone like Hillary Clinton you find many amazing connections. The tool makes it very easy to create detailed maps so that you can easily point out “a person’s otherwise inexplicable behavior.”

If nothing else, it is a well-done idea and tool that is fun to play with. The video on the site will teach you how to use it in a couple of minutes.

How long before a database like this contains every person on the planet?

Postscript - A reader points out another tool that catalogs people and maps interrelationships at least within companies: Cogmap.com.