# XKCD:Extended Mind **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 25, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174 "2011-05-25T17:00:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/1 "2011-05-25T17:00:05Z")
[http://xkcd.com/903/](http://xkcd.com/903/) I have had similar thoughts, but it usually the feeling the not being connected to the internet is like having a lobotomy. A friend of mine in Japan mentioned getting a fiber optic connection in her apartment and I was jealous, even thou her apartment isn’t much bigger than my closet. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/2 "2011-05-25T17:07:03Z")
What does apartment size have to do with internet connectivity? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/3 "2011-05-25T17:19:06Z")
The mouseover thing works, BTW. Except for the occassional loop, everything ends up at Philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/4 "2011-05-25T17:19:55Z")
Anyone else try the mouseover trick? It’s a little eerie… (Oh, well I just got stuck in a loop around mathematics\> quantity\> magnitude\> ordering\> mathematics, so it doesn’t always work. ☹ ) ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/5 "2011-05-25T17:21:17Z")
[Technically, you’re already a cyborg.](http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/dilbert_pocket/) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/6 "2011-05-25T17:30:00Z")
I hit a loop at property-\>physical property-\>measurement-\>units of measurement-\>physical quantity-\>physical property, though my path there from [Joseph John Fox - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_John_Fox) got dangerously close with a trip through religion and knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/7 "2011-05-25T17:34:46Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Anyone else try the mouseover trick? It’s a little eerie… > > (Oh, well I just got stuck in a loop around mathematics\> quantity\> magnitude\> ordering\> mathematics, so it doesn’t always work. ☹ ) I tried it just once using “Ceramics” as the first word that popped into my mind (hey, I’m drinking coffee from a mug). I went down a nest into the sciences, then ended up in mathematics, which then looped as you described. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/8 "2011-05-25T17:37:39Z")
It took about twenty seven hits to get from William Shatner to Philosophy. I hit Aristotle at around 14, but had to wikiwalk a bit there. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/9 "2011-05-25T17:51:10Z")
If you start with the page for [“philosophy”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy) you quickly end up in a loop between [“reason”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason) and [“rationality”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationality). ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/10 "2011-05-25T17:52:36Z")
I think maybe “Science” would be a better destination than “Philosophy”. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/11 "2011-05-25T18:12:38Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > (Oh, well I just got stuck in a loop around mathematics\> quantity\> magnitude\> ordering\> mathematics, so it doesn’t always work. ☹ ) That loop didn’t happen when I did it earlier\*. Ordering was never touched. It went from quantity to property (which it does again)…right now THAT loops back to mathematics, but this morning it went into Modern Philosophy. People have been messing with articles to prevent or cause the link chain’s flow matching the one predicted by xkcd - Mathematics, currently, goes to Research…which ultimately loops back to math again. I don’t know who started the conflict, the ‘Randall Must Be Right’ folks, or the ‘Screw xkcd’ folks, but both are all kinds of annoying. - Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy -\> Philosophy in 25 moves. It would loop out, currently, unless there were changes to an article earlier in the chain than Mathematics. A 2003 Tennis tourney (Estrello, I think) got there in 17…ultimately with the same final steps, so it would loop out, now, too. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/12 "2011-05-25T19:06:44Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > What does apartment size have to do with internet connectivity? Only that I could feel jealousy under any circumstance for a person living in an apartment smaller than a cargo container. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/13 "2011-05-25T21:24:49Z")
I didn’t keep count of the links, but I did eventually get from “custard” to “philosophy”. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/14 "2011-05-25T22:15:56Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Anyone else try the mouseover trick? It’s a little eerie… > > (Oh, well I just got stuck in a loop around mathematics\> quantity\> magnitude\> ordering\> mathematics, so it doesn’t always work. ☹ ) I did, with spark plug and did, indeed, get to philosophy! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Walking\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90ced4/32.png) [@The\_Walking\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Walking_Dude)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/15 "2011-05-25T22:22:03Z")
I am a little ashamed of it, but I decided to start with “poop”. I made it to philosophy in 21 clicks. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/16 "2011-05-26T02:18:26Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > If you start with the page for [“philosophy”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy) you quickly end up in a loop between [“reason”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason) and [“rationality”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationality). It’s been modified and this is no longer true. It’s still true that “reason” and “rationality” loop back and forth, but “philosophy” no longer leads directly to “reason”. Now, when you start at Philosophy and go a small number of clicks you end up stuck going back and forth between “greeks” and “greek language”. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/17 "2011-05-26T03:11:17Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > It’s been modified and this is no longer true. > > It’s still true that “reason” and “rationality” loop back and forth, but “philosophy” no longer leads directly to “reason”. > > Now, when you start at Philosophy and go a small number of clicks you end up stuck going back and forth between “greeks” and “greek language”. I think you’re ignoring the rule about clicking the first link _not in parentheses or italics_. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/18 "2011-05-26T04:11:41Z")
Starting at “pterynotus martinetana” which is apparently a sea snail, it took me only 13 clicks to hit “philosophy.” From “Cannery Row” it took 25. I could waste way too much time doing this. ---
**Author:** ![Silent\_Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Silent\_Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silent_Kal)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/19 "2011-05-26T04:25:34Z")
I still had the word “goosfraba” in my browser’s search box from earlier in the day, so I tried the trick with that. Got to “philosophy” in 11 clicks. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174/20 "2011-05-26T05:16:46Z")
Along similar lines, from Abstruse Goose: [http://abstrusegoose.com/strips/I\_cyborg.PNG](http://abstrusegoose.com/strips/I_cyborg.PNG) Where do you end and the machine begin? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-extended-mind/583174.md?page=2)