The idea

The Erdös Number measures the distance (as coauthor of coauthor of ... of Paul Erdös) between scientists and this famous mathematician. We geeks need a number like that!

We could similarly define the Torvalds Number to measure the distance (as co-programmer of co-programmer of ... ) between any geek and Linus Torvalds (and not as the simple "knows" relationship of six degrees of separation alluded to in the aforementioned link).