Wikipedia, first link loops
Moderators: Moderators General, Prelates, Magistrates
-
- Posts: 546
- Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 10:48 pm UTC
Wikipedia, first link loops
So, I was screwing around on wikipedia for a few hours recently, and I decided to try a little experiment.
1) Hit random article
2) Click the first link, not including any italicized comments above, or any links in parentheses to the language it is in (so if it has parenthetical info about what language, what form...right after the first occurence of a bolded word)
3)repeat 2 until you get a loop
And I noticed that every time I did it it collapsed down to Philosophy -> Reason -> Rationality -> Philosophy
I'm confused...any reason this could happen? Random chance? the ubiquity of philosophical concepts as the basic way of speaking about sciences which build upon each other to eventually describe anything?
Thoughts?
1) Hit random article
2) Click the first link, not including any italicized comments above, or any links in parentheses to the language it is in (so if it has parenthetical info about what language, what form...right after the first occurence of a bolded word)
3)repeat 2 until you get a loop
And I noticed that every time I did it it collapsed down to Philosophy -> Reason -> Rationality -> Philosophy
I'm confused...any reason this could happen? Random chance? the ubiquity of philosophical concepts as the basic way of speaking about sciences which build upon each other to eventually describe anything?
Thoughts?
The 62-foot tall statue of Jesus constructed out of styrofoam, wood and fiberglass resin caught on fire after the right hand of the statue was struck by lightning.
meatyochre wrote:And yea, verily the forums crowd spake: "Teehee!"
- LucasBrown
- Posts: 298
- Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:57 am UTC
- Location: Poway, CA
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Some actress got me into Physical property --> Measurement --> Units of Measurement --> Physical quantity --> ...
Tessennano: joins the chain into that cycle at Human.
Li Ying College: enters that cycle at Measurement.
James John Hogan: joins the chain into that cycle at Human.
Jim Donini: joins a chain into that cycle at Language.
Why does everything seem to end up in one of these cycles? Probably because the general structure of a proper Wikipedia article begins with a general introduction, which tends to use vagueish wording*, and there's only so much vaguery to go around--hence the small number of cycles that seem to catch everything.
*Not that I'm calling physical quantities/measurement/etc vague--I just lack a better word at the moment.
Tessennano: joins the chain into that cycle at Human.
Li Ying College: enters that cycle at Measurement.
James John Hogan: joins the chain into that cycle at Human.
Jim Donini: joins a chain into that cycle at Language.
Why does everything seem to end up in one of these cycles? Probably because the general structure of a proper Wikipedia article begins with a general introduction, which tends to use vagueish wording*, and there's only so much vaguery to go around--hence the small number of cycles that seem to catch everything.
*Not that I'm calling physical quantities/measurement/etc vague--I just lack a better word at the moment.
- BurningLed
- Posts: 561
- Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:42 pm UTC
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
I get stuck in two-page loops at disambiguation pages sometimes.
Axman wrote:Some people blow their cash on watches that they show off to people who think said watches make a person cool. Some people spend a weekend buying everyone fake gifts in a game of make-believe.
I think the latter group is awesome.
- RebeccaRGB
- Posts: 336
- Joined: Sat Mar 06, 2010 7:36 am UTC
- Location: Lesbians Love Bluetooth
- Contact:
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Cool, it's like the Wikipedia version of the Collatz Conjecture.
Collatz conjecture -> Conjecture -> Proposition (philosophy) -> Logic -> Inference -> Deductive reasoning -> Reasoning -> Rationality -> Academic discipline -> Academia -> Community -> Group (disambiguation page) -> Group (mathematics) -> Mathematics -> Quantity -> Property (philosophy) -> Modern philosophy -> Philosophy -> Reason -> Rationality
Collatz conjecture -> Conjecture -> Proposition (philosophy) -> Logic -> Inference -> Deductive reasoning -> Reasoning -> Rationality -> Academic discipline -> Academia -> Community -> Group (disambiguation page) -> Group (mathematics) -> Mathematics -> Quantity -> Property (philosophy) -> Modern philosophy -> Philosophy -> Reason -> Rationality
Stephen Hawking: Great. The entire universe was destroyed.
Fry: Destroyed? Then where are we now?
Al Gore: I don't know. But I can darn well tell you where we're not—the universe!
Fry: Destroyed? Then where are we now?
Al Gore: I don't know. But I can darn well tell you where we're not—the universe!
- phlip
- Restorer of Worlds
- Posts: 7550
- Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:56 am UTC
- Location: Australia
- Contact:
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
There was a memetic image going around a little while back that claimed you'd always end at Philosophy when you did this... when I saw that I tried one and got to Mathematics, but from there after a few links you'd end at "Property (philosophy)", which started "In [[mathematics]], [[modern_philosophy]], and [[logic]], [...]". There was actually an edit war going on at the time about which order those first two links should go in... one side presumably trying to game it so that the meme works. One of the more pointless edit wars I'd seen.
[edit] It looks like that edit war is still going on what the hell.
[edit] It looks like that edit war is still going on what the hell.
Code: Select all
enum ಠ_ಠ {°□°╰=1, °Д°╰, ಠ益ಠ╰};
void ┻━┻︵╰(ಠ_ಠ ⚠) {exit((int)⚠);}
- jestingrabbit
- Factoids are just Datas that haven't grown up yet
- Posts: 5965
- Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:50 pm UTC
- Location: Sydney
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
phlip wrote:[edit] It looks like that edit war is still going on what the hell.
I wonder if pointing out to them that there are other link loops would end the edit war or create others.
ameretrifle wrote:Magic space feudalism is therefore a viable idea.
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
My first attempt got me to Indo-European languages, language family, language, communication, meaningful, Aristotle, Greek language, Indo-European language. I got there starting with the Chromodoris quadricolor.


Environ 20% plus chouette.
-
- Name Checks Out On Time, Tips Chambermaid
- Posts: 1075
- Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:17 am UTC
- Location: couldn't even find coffee in copenhagen
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Armand Russell -> Quebec -> Quebec City -> French language -> Romance languages -> List of Romance languages -> SIL International -> United States -> Federalism -> Covenant theology -> Covenantal Theology (Roman Catholic) -> Covenant theology etc
- The Scyphozoa
- Posts: 2871
- Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:33 pm UTC
- Location: Sector 5
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
I didn't write them all down, but I got a lot (at least 6/10) that led me to Human. Now, I wasn't sure whether to click Taxonomy (as this is between bolded words) or Living (which actually leads to Extant Taxon).
If you click Taxonomy, it will eventually lead to Object (philosophy), which I'll get to later.
If you go to Extant Taxon, it eventually leads to Observation. Human, again, is in parantheses. If you don't choose that, the other choice is Knowledge. Knowledge also leads to Object (philosophy).
Here, I didn't know whether to click Reference or Objectivism. Reference loops back to Object (philosophy). Objectivism is a disambiguation page, and if you click the first choice (Metaphysical Objectivism), it shortly leads to the actual page Philosophy, then to Reason (the link text says "rational argument). Here there are again two choices, one looping back on itself, the other leading to an alternation between Planet and Orbit.
This is madness. I don't think this shows a biased attitude in Wikipedia itself as much as it does in educated people in general. Especially the ones who like to edit Wikipedia (i.e. talk about their opinions to anyone who will listen, which turns out to be not many people, so they go to Wikipedia).
If you click Taxonomy, it will eventually lead to Object (philosophy), which I'll get to later.
If you go to Extant Taxon, it eventually leads to Observation. Human, again, is in parantheses. If you don't choose that, the other choice is Knowledge. Knowledge also leads to Object (philosophy).
Here, I didn't know whether to click Reference or Objectivism. Reference loops back to Object (philosophy). Objectivism is a disambiguation page, and if you click the first choice (Metaphysical Objectivism), it shortly leads to the actual page Philosophy, then to Reason (the link text says "rational argument). Here there are again two choices, one looping back on itself, the other leading to an alternation between Planet and Orbit.
This is madness. I don't think this shows a biased attitude in Wikipedia itself as much as it does in educated people in general. Especially the ones who like to edit Wikipedia (i.e. talk about their opinions to anyone who will listen, which turns out to be not many people, so they go to Wikipedia).

3rdtry wrote:If there ever is another World War, I hope they at least have the decency to call it "World War 2: Episode One"
doogly wrote:murder is a subset of being mean
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
i got into the philosophy loop after about 40 clicks (started with random article at the bottom
interestingly it went from music > genres > books > language > (then it kind of skirted philosophy with meaning and aristotle) > countries > social sciences > science > mathmatics > philosophy
21:31
Philosophy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:31
Rationality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:31
Reason - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:31
Modern philosophy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:31
Property (philosophy) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:31
Quantity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:31
Mathematics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:31
Sequence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Information - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Fact - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Knowledge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Taxonomy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Human - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
World - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Scholarly method - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Social sciences - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
State (polity) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Sovereign state - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Nation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Greeks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Aristotle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Meaning (philosophy of language) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:30
Communication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:29
Language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:29
Language family - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:29
Indo-European languages - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:29
Italic languages - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:29
Latin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:29
Narrative - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:29
Fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:29
Literature - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:29
Genre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:29
Music genre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:28
Popular music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:28
Rock music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:28
Alternative rock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:28
Swervedriver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21:28
99th Dream - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
interestingly it went from music > genres > books > language > (then it kind of skirted philosophy with meaning and aristotle) > countries > social sciences > science > mathmatics > philosophy
-
- Posts: 546
- Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 10:48 pm UTC
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Okay, I guess I wasn't clear about my rules: As I've been doing it, Taxonomically is what i hit for humans. As I've been doing it, I wouldn't hit Greek Language after Aristotle.
Basically, to clarify my rule: I don't hit italicized comments, and I don't hit anything in parentheses that are describing the etymology of a bolded word. I've now realized that the loop I was originally talking about doesn't exist and instead is the loop
human -> taxonomy -> science -> knowledge -> fact -> information -> sequence -> mathematics ->quantity -> property (philosophy) -> modern philosophy -> philosophy -> reason -> faculty -> faculty (division) -> university ->higher education ->academy -> Plato -> Classical Greece -> culture -> Alfred L. Kroeber -> United States -> federalism -> politics -> group decision making ->individual ->person -> human
which is less exciting, but does reveal that since such a large and wide ranging loop exists most thins will go down into it very fast.
oh and to clarify, plante doesn't loop with orbits because physics is the first link in orbits. I do click links before the bolded terms. just not the etymology parentheses
Basically, to clarify my rule: I don't hit italicized comments, and I don't hit anything in parentheses that are describing the etymology of a bolded word. I've now realized that the loop I was originally talking about doesn't exist and instead is the loop
human -> taxonomy -> science -> knowledge -> fact -> information -> sequence -> mathematics ->quantity -> property (philosophy) -> modern philosophy -> philosophy -> reason -> faculty -> faculty (division) -> university ->higher education ->academy -> Plato -> Classical Greece -> culture -> Alfred L. Kroeber -> United States -> federalism -> politics -> group decision making ->individual ->person -> human
which is less exciting, but does reveal that since such a large and wide ranging loop exists most thins will go down into it very fast.
oh and to clarify, plante doesn't loop with orbits because physics is the first link in orbits. I do click links before the bolded terms. just not the etymology parentheses
The 62-foot tall statue of Jesus constructed out of styrofoam, wood and fiberglass resin caught on fire after the right hand of the statue was struck by lightning.
meatyochre wrote:And yea, verily the forums crowd spake: "Teehee!"
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
M&B - May & Baker - Wandsworth - London Borough of Wandsworth - London Borough - Greater London - London (disabiguation) - London - Capital City - [Seat of Local Government - City Hall (disambiguation)]
Kimmel Arena - Basketball - Basketball (ball) - [Ball - Ball (disambigution)]
1659 Bohrmann - Asteroid belt - Asteroid Belt (album) - Velvet Chain - [Los Angeles - La]
Volvera - Comune - Administrative division - Political division - [Technical terminology - Scientific terminology]
I've only found two-page chains so far
Kimmel Arena - Basketball - Basketball (ball) - [Ball - Ball (disambigution)]
1659 Bohrmann - Asteroid belt - Asteroid Belt (album) - Velvet Chain - [Los Angeles - La]
Volvera - Comune - Administrative division - Political division - [Technical terminology - Scientific terminology]
I've only found two-page chains so far

Spelling and grammar can go screw themselves.
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Dark Avorian wrote:human -> taxonomy -> science -> knowledge -> fact -> information -> sequence -> mathematics ->quantity -> property (philosophy) -> modern philosophy -> philosophy -> reason -> faculty -> faculty (division) -> university ->higher education ->academy -> Plato -> Classical Greece -> culture -> Alfred L. Kroeber -> United States -> federalism -> politics -> group decision making ->individual ->person -> human
which is less exciting, but does reveal that since such a large and wide ranging loop exists most thins will go down into it very fast.
At least (as phlip said), approximately 5% of the time you get into the mathematics -> quantity -> property (philosophy) -> mathematics loop. I actually prefer the property (philosophy) page phrasing when it has mathematics first, purely from a copyediting perspective - it gives the sentence a better flow, but I'm not going to get involved in the edit war.
OBrien wrote:Kimmel Arena - Basketball - Basketball (ball) - [Ball - Ball (disambigution)]
I've only found two-page chains so far
That's because the original 'rules' were to ignore any links in the italicised 'comments' before the article begins, so, for example, you don't follow the link on the Ball page to the disambiguation article; you would follow the link to Sphere instead. From there it's sphere -> geometry -> earth -> planet -> orbit -> physics -> natural science -> science, which gets you into the loop above.
- katethegreat
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:39 pm UTC
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Kolko wrote:My first attempt got me to Indo-European languages, language family, language, communication, meaningful, Aristotle, Greek language, Indo-European language. I got there starting with the Chromodoris quadricolor.
I got to the same loop, starting with the Striped Pipet.
-
- Posts: 546
- Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 10:48 pm UTC
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
that's because you clicked the link for "Greek language" in the parenthetical etymology thing about Aristotles name.
The 62-foot tall statue of Jesus constructed out of styrofoam, wood and fiberglass resin caught on fire after the right hand of the statue was struck by lightning.
meatyochre wrote:And yea, verily the forums crowd spake: "Teehee!"
- SlyReaper
- inflatable
- Posts: 8015
- Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:09 pm UTC
- Location: Bristol, Old Blighty
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Why are you stopping at Indo-European languages?
Indo-European Languages -> Language Family -> Language -> Communication -> Meaning (philosophy of language) -> Aristotle -> Greek -> Nation -> Sovereign State -> State (polity) -> Social Sciences -> Umbrella Term -> Superset -> Mathematics -> Quantity -> Property (philosophy) -> Modern Philosophy -> Philosopy -> [previously established loop].
Indo-European Languages -> Language Family -> Language -> Communication -> Meaning (philosophy of language) -> Aristotle -> Greek -> Nation -> Sovereign State -> State (polity) -> Social Sciences -> Umbrella Term -> Superset -> Mathematics -> Quantity -> Property (philosophy) -> Modern Philosophy -> Philosopy -> [previously established loop].

What would Baron Harkonnen do?
- Felstaff
- Occam's Taser
- Posts: 5161
- Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:10 pm UTC
- Location: ¢ ₪ ¿ ¶ § ∴ ® © ™ ؟ ¡ ‽ æ Þ ° ₰ ₤ ಡಢ
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Miquel Barceló studied in Palma, a city in Majorca, which itself is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea. The sea is a large body of water, and--interestingly enough--is a significant accumulation of water, which, as we all know, is a chemical substance; something referred to in the field of chemistry; a fundamental science, which is Latin for "knowledge". If you didn't know, knowledge is an accumulation of facts; verifiable objects of information, which in itself is a cognitive sequence of signals and symbols. Sequence, obviously, being a mathematical term, itself studying the structure of quantities (which, technically speaking, is a "property"-- a common term used to help the human mind create definition in modern philosophy, which, as its name implies, is the modern European interpretation of this little thing call philosophy).
Anyway! Miquel Barceló was not actually from Palma, but Felanitx, which is a Spanish municipality; an administrative geographical division assigned to local government. This bite-sized ruling administration exists because the area it covers is smaller than a state; a political institution referred to in the social sciences. This, naturally, is an umbrella term, which means a grouping of terms, or "superset" if you want to get all mathematical on us. Mathematics is the study of the structure of quantities (which, technically speaking, is a "property"-- a common term used to help the human mind create definition in modern philosophy, which, as its name implies, is the modern European interpretation of this little thing call philosophy).
Anyway, did you Miquel Barceló was a HUGE fan of Diego Velázquez, a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. For those of you not up to speed with what a royal court is; it's basically an extended household, which is a residential unit that is the social hub for most human lives, where such activities are carried out, including economic production; a system where human labour is inputted with the goal of creating a desired output. This established economic system has been studied intensely, and forms a fundamental concern for, sociologists. Sociology is the study of society at large, which is loosely defined upon the cumulative and complex fundamentals of interpersonal relationships, where human associations are formed, one of which is "limerance", an involuntary state of mind coined by Dorothy Tennov, a psychologist. A psychologist can be defined as a clinical professional who deals, amongst other things, with dysfunction, a term heavily used in psychology, which is in itself a recognised science (which is literally Latin for "knowledge") If you didn't know, knowledge is an accumulation of facts; verifiable objects of information, which in itself is a cognitive sequence of signals and symbols. Sequence, obviously, being a mathematical term, itself studying the structure of quantities (which, technically speaking, is a "property"-- a common term used to help the human mind create definition in modern philosophy, which, as its name implies, is the modern European interpretation of this little thing call philosophy).
Not only was Miquel Barceló a big follower of Velázquez, he also couldn't get enough Tintoretto - an Italian painter and a notable exponent of the Venetian Renaissance school; an academy that embraced the great social change of the Renaissance, a cultural movement that embraces a shift in approaches to all art forms...

Anyway! Miquel Barceló was not actually from Palma, but Felanitx, which is a Spanish municipality; an administrative geographical division assigned to local government. This bite-sized ruling administration exists because the area it covers is smaller than a state; a political institution referred to in the social sciences. This, naturally, is an umbrella term, which means a grouping of terms, or "superset" if you want to get all mathematical on us. Mathematics is the study of the structure of quantities (which, technically speaking, is a "property"-- a common term used to help the human mind create definition in modern philosophy, which, as its name implies, is the modern European interpretation of this little thing call philosophy).
Anyway, did you Miquel Barceló was a HUGE fan of Diego Velázquez, a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. For those of you not up to speed with what a royal court is; it's basically an extended household, which is a residential unit that is the social hub for most human lives, where such activities are carried out, including economic production; a system where human labour is inputted with the goal of creating a desired output. This established economic system has been studied intensely, and forms a fundamental concern for, sociologists. Sociology is the study of society at large, which is loosely defined upon the cumulative and complex fundamentals of interpersonal relationships, where human associations are formed, one of which is "limerance", an involuntary state of mind coined by Dorothy Tennov, a psychologist. A psychologist can be defined as a clinical professional who deals, amongst other things, with dysfunction, a term heavily used in psychology, which is in itself a recognised science (which is literally Latin for "knowledge") If you didn't know, knowledge is an accumulation of facts; verifiable objects of information, which in itself is a cognitive sequence of signals and symbols. Sequence, obviously, being a mathematical term, itself studying the structure of quantities (which, technically speaking, is a "property"-- a common term used to help the human mind create definition in modern philosophy, which, as its name implies, is the modern European interpretation of this little thing call philosophy).
Not only was Miquel Barceló a big follower of Velázquez, he also couldn't get enough Tintoretto - an Italian painter and a notable exponent of the Venetian Renaissance school; an academy that embraced the great social change of the Renaissance, a cultural movement that embraces a shift in approaches to all art forms...

Away, you scullion! you rampallion! You fustilarian! I'll tickle your catastrophe.
-
- Posts: 546
- Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 10:48 pm UTC
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Ah, the infamous "reddit already knows, ya dumbshit!" shutdown...
Well anyway.
Well anyway.
The 62-foot tall statue of Jesus constructed out of styrofoam, wood and fiberglass resin caught on fire after the right hand of the statue was struck by lightning.
meatyochre wrote:And yea, verily the forums crowd spake: "Teehee!"
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
I believe the Sri Lanka article is creating an unresolved tension.
broken parentheses!
Should we follow the link on "Indian subcontinent" and go Indian_Continent -> Indian_subcontinent -> ... -> Earth_sciences -> Science -> ... and end in the Philosophy loop ?
Or follow the link on "Sinhala" (it isn't preceded by any unmatched left parentheses so it isn't parenthesized, right?) and end up in a Sri_Lanka -> Sinhalese_people -> Sinhala_language -> Sri_Lanka loop?
Wikipedia wrote:Sri Lanka (officially, The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka) (/ʃriː ˈlɑːŋkə/), /sriːˈlɑːŋkə/, or /sriːˈlæŋkə/; Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකාව, Tamil: இலங்கை) is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent.
broken parentheses!
Should we follow the link on "Indian subcontinent" and go Indian_Continent -> Indian_subcontinent -> ... -> Earth_sciences -> Science -> ... and end in the Philosophy loop ?
Or follow the link on "Sinhala" (it isn't preceded by any unmatched left parentheses so it isn't parenthesized, right?) and end up in a Sri_Lanka -> Sinhalese_people -> Sinhala_language -> Sri_Lanka loop?
- phlip
- Restorer of Worlds
- Posts: 7550
- Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:56 am UTC
- Location: Australia
- Contact:
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Or you could, y'know, fix them. It is a wiki, after all.
Code: Select all
enum ಠ_ಠ {°□°╰=1, °Д°╰, ಠ益ಠ╰};
void ┻━┻︵╰(ಠ_ಠ ⚠) {exit((int)⚠);}
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Check the latest (903) xkcd comic title text.. it speaks exactly about this. 

- SlyReaper
- inflatable
- Posts: 8015
- Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:09 pm UTC
- Location: Bristol, Old Blighty
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
I came here to post that, but was beaten to it. *shakes angry fist*

What would Baron Harkonnen do?
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
I stumbled across Patient -> Therapy -> Medical diagnosis -> Disease -> Symptom -> Patient the other day.
But someone broke it by linking 'abnormal' on the Disease page, which of course sucks you back into the Philosophy loop.
But someone broke it by linking 'abnormal' on the Disease page, which of course sucks you back into the Philosophy loop.

- phlip
- Restorer of Worlds
- Posts: 7550
- Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:56 am UTC
- Location: Australia
- Contact:
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
I made a graph from 50 different random pages (picked by Special:Random):

The starting pages are in green. Disambig pages are dark grey and dashed, redirects are lighter grey and dotted. Nonexistent pages are in red. More popular nodes are bigger.
So of the 50 pages: 46 ended in the Philosophy loop (and of those, 45 entered it via Philosophy, one via Reason), 1 ended in a different loop via "Common law", 2 ended on (the same) redlink, and 1 didn't have any links on it all.
I'm still running the script, to make an even bigger graph. And looking into how to control graphviz more indepth-ly... I'd like to generate a graph with "Philosophy" in the centre, and having it expand outwards, like the xkcd Collatz graph. (If someone knows how to do that, let me know!)
The starting pages are in green. Disambig pages are dark grey and dashed, redirects are lighter grey and dotted. Nonexistent pages are in red. More popular nodes are bigger.
So of the 50 pages: 46 ended in the Philosophy loop (and of those, 45 entered it via Philosophy, one via Reason), 1 ended in a different loop via "Common law", 2 ended on (the same) redlink, and 1 didn't have any links on it all.
I'm still running the script, to make an even bigger graph. And looking into how to control graphviz more indepth-ly... I'd like to generate a graph with "Philosophy" in the centre, and having it expand outwards, like the xkcd Collatz graph. (If someone knows how to do that, let me know!)
Code: Select all
enum ಠ_ಠ {°□°╰=1, °Д°╰, ಠ益ಠ╰};
void ┻━┻︵╰(ಠ_ಠ ⚠) {exit((int)⚠);}
- Felstaff
- Occam's Taser
- Posts: 5161
- Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:10 pm UTC
- Location: ¢ ₪ ¿ ¶ § ∴ ® © ™ ؟ ¡ ‽ æ Þ ° ₰ ₤ ಡಢ
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
I love how Todd Nicholson is sat there, orphaned, all on his Todd.
Take that, you Paralympian sledge ice-hockey player!
Take that, you Paralympian sledge ice-hockey player!
Away, you scullion! you rampallion! You fustilarian! I'll tickle your catastrophe.
-
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 12:08 pm UTC
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
I think this one works. I found a random page.
Osnağaküçə -> Ambu, Azerbaijan -> Lerik Rayon (click on town) -> Lerik -> Lerik Rayon
Osnağaküçə -> Ambu, Azerbaijan -> Lerik Rayon (click on town) -> Lerik -> Lerik Rayon
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Felstaff wrote:I love how Todd Nicholson is sat there, orphaned, all on his Todd.
Take that, you Paralympian sledge ice-hockey player!
I fixed him.

- phlip
- Restorer of Worlds
- Posts: 7550
- Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:56 am UTC
- Location: Australia
- Contact:
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Much bigger graph from 200 starting pages:
There's a not-insignificant component in the corner of pages that feed into [[System]], which has (or, at least, had, when it was downloaded) a redlink as its first link. Though I'm sure that if [[relational regime]] existed, it would lead to [[Philosophy]] pretty quickly.
Note that all my fetches from Wikipedia are cached, to avoid hitting their servers too much, so I haven't picked up any changes to pages that appeared on the previous graph (like [[Todd Nicholson]] having outgoing links now).
There's a not-insignificant component in the corner of pages that feed into [[System]], which has (or, at least, had, when it was downloaded) a redlink as its first link. Though I'm sure that if [[relational regime]] existed, it would lead to [[Philosophy]] pretty quickly.
Note that all my fetches from Wikipedia are cached, to avoid hitting their servers too much, so I haven't picked up any changes to pages that appeared on the previous graph (like [[Todd Nicholson]] having outgoing links now).
Code: Select all
enum ಠ_ಠ {°□°╰=1, °Д°╰, ಠ益ಠ╰};
void ┻━┻︵╰(ಠ_ಠ ⚠) {exit((int)⚠);}
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Has anyone tried this in other languages?
All the random articles on the Russian Wikipedia I tried fall into this loop:
Наука (science)
Познание (cognition)
Метод (method)
Систематизация (systematisation (according to Google Translate))
Теория множеств (set theory)
Математика (mathematics)
EDIT: So this is my 100th post, eh? ... Yay?
All the random articles on the Russian Wikipedia I tried fall into this loop:
Наука (science)
Познание (cognition)
Метод (method)
Систематизация (systematisation (according to Google Translate))
Теория множеств (set theory)
Математика (mathematics)
EDIT: So this is my 100th post, eh? ... Yay?
Last edited by Ouch.jars on Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:19 pm UTC, edited 1 time in total.
ouchjars: putting the "pie" in "sapience" since '08
- phlip
- Restorer of Worlds
- Posts: 7550
- Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:56 am UTC
- Location: Australia
- Contact:
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
I've made a writeup of the graph, if anyone's curious.
Code: Select all
enum ಠ_ಠ {°□°╰=1, °Д°╰, ಠ益ಠ╰};
void ┻━┻︵╰(ಠ_ಠ ⚠) {exit((int)⚠);}
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
phlip wrote:Much bigger graph from 200 starting pages
That is a cool graph, what software did you use to create it?
- SpringLoaded12
- Posts: 350
- Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 1:58 am UTC
- Location: Guarding the Super Missile
- Contact:
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
RebeccaRGB wrote:Cool, it's like the Wikipedia version of the Collatz Conjecture.
Collatz conjecture -> Conjecture -> Proposition (philosophy) -> Logic -> Inference -> Deductive reasoning -> Reasoning -> Rationality -> Academic discipline -> Academia -> Community -> Group (disambiguation page) -> Group (mathematics) -> Mathematics -> Quantity -> Property (philosophy) -> Modern philosophy -> Philosophy -> Reason -> Rationality
The loop is in the form Philosophy -> Reason -> Rationality -> (repeat), thus Rationality should lead to Philosophy. Why did Rationality lead to Academic discipline when you did it?
"It's easy to forget what a sin is in the middle of a battlefield." "Opposite over hypotenuse, dipshit."
- RebeccaRGB
- Posts: 336
- Joined: Sat Mar 06, 2010 7:36 am UTC
- Location: Lesbians Love Bluetooth
- Contact:
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
SpringLoaded12 wrote:Why did Rationality lead to Academic discipline when you did it?
At the time I did it, the Rationality article started thusly:
Stephen Hawking: Great. The entire universe was destroyed.
Fry: Destroyed? Then where are we now?
Al Gore: I don't know. But I can darn well tell you where we're not—the universe!
Fry: Destroyed? Then where are we now?
Al Gore: I don't know. But I can darn well tell you where we're not—the universe!
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Awesome job, thanks!phlip wrote:I've made a writeup of the graph, if anyone's curious.

Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
So is it ironic that out of all the pages Computer software and Computer program don't follow this rule and instead get stuck in a simple loop?
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
I'm stuck in an infinite loop! QUICK, someone sabotage the Philosophy article to break me out of this loop! QUICK! My circuits are about to implode!!!!!
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestock_ ... ch_Network
Originally had no links other than a footnote, and I showed it to my friend. Then he added livestock.
Originally had no links other than a footnote, and I showed it to my friend. Then he added livestock.

-
- First one to notify the boards of Rick and Morty Season 3
- Posts: 3682
- Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 5:12 pm UTC
- Location: Everywhere(in the US, I don't venture outside it too often, unfortunately)
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
phlip wrote:I've made a writeup of the graph, if anyone's curious.
Somebody has definitely been following your write up and altering it to make sure the philosophy loop ends for everything.
I apologize, 90% of the time I write on the Fora I am intoxicated.
Yakk wrote:The question the thought experiment I posted is aimed at answering: When falling in a black hole, do you see the entire universe's future history train-car into your ass, or not?
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Bonus points for anyone who can make this end in the article Recursion, and have the first link in that be a link to itself.
All other things being equal, the simplest solution is ale.
- animeHrmIne
- Posts: 509
- Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2009 4:33 pm UTC
- Location: Missouri, USA, Sol III
Re: Wikipedia, first link loops
Ouch.jars wrote:Has anyone tried this in other languages?
All the random articles on the Russian Wikipedia I tried fall into this loop:
Наука (science)
Познание (cognition)
Метод (method)
Систематизация (systematisation (according to Google Translate))
Теория множеств (set theory)
Математика (mathematics)
Before I tried it in Spanish, I wanted to see if a Philosophy loop even existed. It does, but it's really long. It's Filosofía => Existencia => Mundo => Planeta => Redefinición de planeta de 2006 => 2006 => Anexo:Año común comenzado en domingo => Domingo => Semana => Tiempo => Magnitud física => Objeto (filosofía) => Filosofía
I got a bit worried around Planet and Time that it would shoot off and never return, but it did.
Also, when I do "biologist" I get Biologist => Scientist => System => Elements => Mathematics which does eventually get to Philosophy. The link says "Systematic", but it links to system.
I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord and ran away. And you were the only one mad enough.
Biting's excellent! It's like kissing, only there's a winner.
-Sexy
Biting's excellent! It's like kissing, only there's a winner.
-Sexy
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: Thesh and 13 guests