# Wiki-walk to philosophy **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 25, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178 "2011-05-25T17:42:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/41 "2011-05-26T12:48:57Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > Started at “The Twilight Zone” and ended up in a loop (mathematics) after 14 clicked links. I got stuck even before then… The Twilight Zone Television Telecommunication Transmission Telecommunication etc. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/42 "2011-05-26T20:34:08Z")
Quoth **Telperion** : > [@](#): > > Well, I started on Erik the Red and got stuck on Theodiscus, as the first link on that article redirects back to itself. Brilliant. You’re supposed to skip the italicized and parenthetical links. I get Erik the Red -\> Nordic Countries -\> Atlantic Ocean -\> Ocean -\> Seawater -\> Water -\> Chemical Substance -\> Chemistry -\> Science, at which point we’re onto edit war turf. ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/43 "2011-05-27T02:51:37Z")
Starting randomly at [Giejsz coat of arms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giejsz_coat_of_arms), I found a really big loop with Social Sciences. Social sciences Field of Study Academia Community Interaction Causality Object Object (Philosophy) Latin Latium Rome Capital city Seat of local government Local government State (polity) Social sciences ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/44 "2011-05-27T12:18:39Z")
> [@Wolverine](#): > > Starting randomly at [Giejsz coat of arms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giejsz_coat_of_arms), I found a really big loop with Social Sciences. > > Social sciences > Field of Study > Academia > Community > Interaction > Causality > Object > Object (Philosophy) > Latin > Latium > Rome > Capital city > Seat of local government > Local government > State (polity) > Social sciences You should be using either “effects” or “events” from the [Causality](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality)page, rather than “objects”. If you use “effects” you hit Philosophy fairly quickly, and “events” is even quicker. ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/45 "2011-05-27T13:24:28Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > You should be using either “effects” or “events” from the [Causality](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality)page, rather than “objects”. > > If you use “effects” you hit Philosophy fairly quickly, and “events” is even quicker. I could have sworn that events took me to wikidictionary instead. ---
**Author:** ![curious11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac91a4/32.png) [@curious11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious11)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/46 "2011-06-03T17:25:07Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > The reason it works is that the first few sentences in a wiki article usually place the article’s subject in a more general context. … Since philosophy is the most general of all fields, it’s very likely you’ll eventually wind up there, barring loops. My reasoning for philosphy being at the root has to do with the final bridge between the outside world and the brain, how do we know what we know. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/47 "2011-06-03T19:11:08Z")
[“Bellamy salute”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy_salute) (the subject of another thread, so I had the wiki page open) eventually loops without hitting Philosophy. It comes close – there were a couple of pages that did have a link to Philosophy, but none of them were the first link. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/48 "2011-06-03T19:49:36Z")
**Hal** , I get Bellamy salute -\> salute -\> gesture -\> nonverbal communication -\> communication -\> meaning (philosophy of language) -\> definition -\> meaning (linguistics) -\> linguistics -\> human -\> taxonomy -\> science -\> knowledge -\> fact -\> information -\> sequence -\> mathematics -\> quantity -\> property (philosophy) -\> modern philosophy -\> philosophy. What loop were you getting? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/49 "2011-06-03T19:53:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Hal** , I get Bellamy salute -\> salute -\> gesture -\> … Wow, I screwed that one up right quick. I missed “gesture” and instead went to “hand”. ---
**Author:** ![Guda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/838e76/32.png) [@Guda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guda)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/50 "2011-06-09T15:17:34Z")
I found a sex/gender loop beginning with “Nun” “Nun” “Woman” “Female” “Sex” goes to “gender” “Gender” “Male” “Sex” “Gender” “Male” “Sex” etc… bummmmer ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/51 "2020-06-30T10:23:23Z")
Took me only 12 clicks. I first went to Random Article and got [S. Jebanesan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Jebanesan); from there it went: S. Jebanesan \> 1. Sri Lankan Tamils \> 2. Tamils \> 3. Tamil language \> 4. Dravidian languages \> 5. Language family \> 6. Language \> 7. Grammar \> 8. Linguistics \> 9. Science \> 10. Knowledge \> 11. Experience \> 12. Philosophy. Pretty neat! It reminds me of similar fun with a dictionary I read about in I think it was David Crystal’s _The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language_. Start at any random word in the dictionary and keep looking up the first word in the definition. Eventually the trail will lead to the word _[be](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/be#English)_. I tried it with a print dictionary several times and it worked every time. I bet it would work with Wiktionary too. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/52 "2020-06-30T15:38:50Z")
I had totally forgotten about this. I just got from Notebook to Philosophy in ten clicks. It looks like the Knowledge Loop may be broken. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/53 "2020-06-30T16:16:50Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I just got from Notebook to Philosophy in ten clicks. It looks like the Knowledge Loop may be broken. Same for xkcd, via Knowledge. No loop. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/54 "2020-06-30T22:24:15Z")
To all be on the same page—so to speak—try what I tried: Random Article. Maybe trying to pick the best starting page doesn’t help. Reviewing the posts from 9 years ago, I wondered a crazy thought: if the Wikipedia articles on Knowledge and other topics close to Philosophy have been carefully edited by _xkcd_ fans to eliminate those loops. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/56 "2020-06-30T22:43:19Z")
From the beautiful Anne Hathaway to Philosophy in 27 clicks. Anne Hathaway List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role British Academy film awards British Academy of Film and Television Arts David Lean Order of the British Empire Order of chivalry Order (distinction) Honour Ethos Orpheus Prophet Religion Cultural system Culture Behavior Social behavior Action (philosophy) Behavioural science Organism Biology Natural science Branches of science Science Knowledge Experience Philosophy ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/57 "2020-07-01T04:35:11Z")
Checker Motors Corporation leads you to Kalamazoo, Michigan, then quickly to a three part U.S. State =\> United States =\> Contiguous United States loop. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/58 "2020-07-01T11:12:51Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Ethos > Orpheus Shouldn’t Ethos go to Greek? Maybe someone edited the page since you tried it. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178/59 "2020-07-01T11:27:11Z")
Oops – didn’t notice that link. Anne Hathaway List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role British Academy film awards British Academy of Film and Television Arts David Lean Order of the British Empire Order of chivalry Order (distinction) Honour Ethos Greek language Indo-European languages Language family Language Grammar Linguistics Science Knowledge Experience Philosophy 20 clicks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-walk-to-philosophy/583178.md?page=2)