# why does Wikipedia lead to philosophy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 2, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079 "2011-06-02T14:23:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/1 "2011-06-02T14:23:53Z")
I’ve just learned that all entries in Wikipedia will eventually lead to philosophy. If you take any (or most?) entries and keep clicking on the first link in each of the pages, you will eventually and inevitably get to ‘philosophy’ I’ve tried it numerous times and it appears to be true. My question is “WHY?” Is this an intentionally placed function (like an ‘easter egg’)? or is it just that in a database such as this searches will naturally fall to philosophy. or could I just pick any random noun and within 10-20 clicks wind up on that random noun and nothing is special with ‘philosophy’? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/2 "2011-06-02T14:28:09Z")
I just tried it with “Cat” and after about ten or fifteen clicks haven’t gotten there yet. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/3 "2011-06-02T14:31:11Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I just tried it with “Cat” and after about ten or fifteen clicks haven’t gotten there yet. It’s 12 clicks. You’re supposed to ignore links in italics or parenthesis. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/4 "2011-06-02T14:32:36Z")
It’s not true for all pages. I tried out the last Wiki page that I had looked at, and it quickly came to a closed loop. The first link on [United Kingdom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) is [UK (disambiguation)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_%28disambiguation%29), and the first link on that page is [United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Northern_Ireland&redirect=no), a redirect to [United Kingdom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom). ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/5 "2011-06-02T14:34:55Z")
I tried penguin and got there. This also leads to existence. then a continuous loop. Don’t know why but it sort of in line with some of the teachings of Socrates that philosophy is suppose to be a group effort, each learning from each other, growing from each other, which is what Wiki is suppose to do. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/6 "2011-06-02T14:37:00Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > It’s not true for all pages. I tried out the last Wiki page that I had looked at, and it quickly came to a closed loop. The first link on [United Kingdom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) is [UK (disambiguation)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_%28disambiguation%29), and the first link on that page is [United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Northern_Ireland&redirect=no), a redirect to [United Kingdom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom). Nope they get there too. you must have clicked on a italics link. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/7 "2011-06-02T14:37:45Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > My question is “WHY?” Because the uber-nerdy webcomic XKCD said so last week, that’s why. Here’s [the strip in question](http://xkcd.com/903/). If you mouse over the comic, text pops up that says, “Wikipedia trivia: if you take any article, click on the first link in the article text not in parenthesis or italics, and then repeat, you will eventually end up at ‘Philosophy’.” Fans of this comic pretty much saw this as a challenge, and went to work like busy little bees. There were countless closed loops in Wikipedia that were eventually redirected back onto the “all things lead to Philosophy” route. All hail the power of nerdom! ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/8 "2011-06-02T14:48:31Z")
OK, that worked for me. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/9 "2011-06-02T14:53:42Z")
I lost count, but yeah, aluminum after many, many, many, many links lead to philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/10 "2011-06-02T14:54:49Z")
I’m surprised all roads don’t lead to fanservice. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/11 "2011-06-02T14:57:29Z")
Previous thread about this: > **[Wiki-walk to philosophy](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=609905)** > > According to today’s XKCD, “if you take any article, click on the first link in the article text not in parentheses or italics, and then repeat, you will eventually end up at ‘Philosophy.’” I just did it in 27 links starting with William Shatner. ... ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/12 "2011-06-02T15:14:01Z")
Wiki: Data storage device It leads to a loop. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/13 "2011-06-02T15:22:59Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > Wiki: Data storage device > > It leads to a loop. So it does, though how the word **capturing** would link to **Data storage device** , doesn’t seem to be correct. ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/14 "2011-06-02T15:23:08Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > My question is “WHY?” Ironically, this is the very question that Philosophy attempts to answer. But since I don’t really see a specific answer to your specific question on this thread or the other, I’ll tell you. You may have noticed that, due to the nature of encyclopedic prose, most articles start of by saying that TOPIC is a component or example of BROADER TOPIC, which, in keeping with Wikipedia’s philosophy ;), is almost always a link to the entry on BROADER TOPIC. And Philosophy is a pretty broad topic. Almost as broad as Existence, which is, of course, the first link from that page. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/15 "2011-06-02T15:31:16Z")
It would be better if they all led to Rome (and more of a challenge). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/16 "2011-06-02T15:31:40Z")
The key is that most Wikipedia articles are going to start out with a broad definition. Like Luxembourg is a country in Europe or Franklin Pierce was a President of the United States or a kangaroo is an animal that lives in Australia. Then articles like country or president or animal start with broader definitions. So you quickly reach a pretty abstract level where you’re in an article like mathematics or science or knowledge or fact or history. And these broad subjects tend to be defined in philosophical terms. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/17 "2011-06-02T15:33:44Z")
It’s interesting but not that surprising IMO. Philosophy could be considered both the most abstract area of study, or the most fundamental. It’s kinda like a child asking “Why?” to everything you say for a few iterations. Eventually, they’ll probably be asking a question that’s too abstract to answer trivially, and is hence philosophical in nature, or it will be something that we flat out don’t know yet…and speculation about the unknown and philosophy are closely linked. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/18 "2011-06-02T15:37:19Z")
> [@J\_Cubed](#): > > … You may have noticed that, due to the nature of encyclopedic prose, most articles start of by saying that TOPIC is a component or example of BROADER TOPIC, which, in keeping with Wikipedia’s philosophy ;), is almost always a link to the entry on BROADER TOPIC. And Philosophy is a pretty broad topic. … Exactly the answer that I came up with. And I thank you for figuring out how to word it so clearly! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/19 "2011-06-02T17:22:02Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > It’s interesting but not that surprising IMO. > Philosophy could be considered both the most abstract area of study, or the most fundamental. Same reason why you can earn a PhD in all sorts of subjects: at a high enough level of study, “doctor of philosophy” is a pretty good description for what you’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079/20 "2011-06-03T01:39:08Z")
I started with [Tokyo Disneyland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Disneyland): 1. Tokyo Disneyland 2. Theme Park 3. Entertainment 4. Amuse –\> Amusement (redirect) 5. Experience 6. Concept 7. Cognitive –\> Cognition (redirect) 8. Scientific –\> Science (redirect) 9. Knowledge 10. Fact 11. Information 12. Sequence 13. Mathematics 14. Quantity 15. Property –\> Property (Philosophy) (redirect) 16. Modern Philosophy 17. Philosophy Cool. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wikipedia-lead-to-philosophy/584079.md?page=2)