Wikipedia philosophy phenomenon
The Wikipedia philosophy phenomenon, sometimes called the "Philosophy Game", is the tendency that English Wikipedia articles' first hyperlink, when clicked in a chain, will end in a loop at the article "Philosophy".[1] The concept was discovered by Wikipedian Mark J.[2]
The phenomenon first received widespread attention from a "fun fact" in the xkcd webcomic on 25 May 2011, which led to University of Vermont researchers Mark Ibrahim, Christopher Danforth, and Peter Sheridan Dodds publishing a paper on the matter.[1] The research found that the first link generalises the topic and eventually leads to "Philosophy":
So while a great many [First Link Network] paths flow to "Philosophy" [...], the accumulation is not the result of many articles directly referencing "Philosophy." Instead, first links flow towards "Philosophy" as the ultimate anchor, by generalizing from specific to broad.[3]
In 2011, more than 93% of English Wikipedia articles led to "Philosophy".[4] In 2016, this was true for 97% of articles, including the page for philosophy itself.[5]
Other languages
[edit | edit source]Some other language Wikipedias, like the German, French and Russian editions, also led to "Philosophy" like the English Wikipedia. Others, like the Dutch and Japanese editions, did not.[5] The concepts with highest centrality to first link networks in European language Wikipedias are sciences, such as "Psychology" for Italian Wikipedia,[5] while East Asian languages are connected by concepts such as humans or Earth.[6]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]
- Wikipedia:Getting to Philosophy, original source of the discovery
- Extended Mind, 2011 xkcd where the hover text references the Wikipedia philosophy phenomenon
- Clip from The Joy of Data, 2016 documentary where mathematician Hannah Fry talks about "getting to philosophy"
