5 ms·

Might sound dull, but I recommend Wikipedia. There is a word for it, which I forgot, when you look something up on Wikipedia, the article contains a link to an

by krylon 9y ago

Might sound dull, but I recommend Wikipedia. There is a word for it, which I forgot, when you look something up on Wikipedia, the article contains a link to another article, and you go, "Oooh, that sounds interesting", open it in another tab, then, when reading the second article, you come across two or three more of such links, and before you know what is going on, you have dozens of tabs open. The only limit is your patience and your computer's RAM. Eventually you'll end up reading articles that are not even remotely related to your initial inquiry, but highly interesting nonetheless.

zengr 9y ago
I agree. I was pleasantly surprised by the Wikipedia iOS app, it's really addictive https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wikipedia/id324715238?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wikipedia/id324715238?mt=8
orb_yt 9y ago
https://xkcd.com/214/ https://xkcd.com/214/ An interesting side note: if you repeatedly click the first link at the beginning of any wikipedia article (except links in parenthesis) you will always end up at Philosophy.
- horns13 9y ago
  I started with 'God of War (2018 video game)' and ended up at 'Philosophy'!
- hithereagain 9y ago
  If you start with Mathematics, you'll end up in a loop: Mathematics > Quantity > Magnitude (mathematics) > Mathematics. Ignoring this backlink, though, it would work: Mathematics > Quantity > Magnitude (mathematics) > Mathematical object > Abstract and concrete > Referent > Linguistics > Science > Knowledge > Fact > Verificationism > Philosophy
  - amenod 9y ago
    Also, starting with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Internationaux_de_Strasbourg_%E2%80%93_Doubles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Internationaux_de_Strasbo... (random page) you get into loop around "Languages". But if the algorithm should ignore the already visited links then it would probably work because the pages usually describe something using the higher level concepts first. The question is how much larger the pool of "always found" pages becomes.
- wdbbdw 9y ago
  Test of n = 1: ("Random article") -> Yūyūki -> 1989 in video gaming -> Golden Joystick Awards -> Video game -> Electronic game -> Game -> Play (activity) -> Psychology -> Behavior -> American English -> Variety (linguistics) -> Sociolinguistics -> Society -> Social group -> Social science -> Discipline (academia) -> Knowledge -> Fact -> Verificationism -> Philosophy That was fun!
subtik 9y ago
a rabbit hole?
- jaclaz 9y ago
  Cited from Matrix: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/quotes?item=qt0324307 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/quotes?item=qt0324307 which cites Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rabbit%20Hole http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rabbit%20Hole
- jonathansizz 9y ago
  serendipity.
Mahn 9y ago
Wikipedia is probably the most dangerous procrastination tool on the net. There's not limit there, the rabbit hole just goes deeper and deeper.
- Fernicia 9y ago
  tvtropes should also be considered in this category.
  - krylon 9y ago
    Oh my, yes! I went there to look up one term, and before I knew it the entire afternoon had gone by. OTOH, I learned a lot that afternoon. Watching TV programs has never been the same.
chris_wot 9y ago
The danger isn't reading it, it's writing in it. It could literally drive you to suicide. It did for me, though of course I survived.
spurlock 9y ago
Is it called binging? Or a wikibinge? https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wikibinge https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wikibinge
saboot 9y ago
There's also http://www.scholarpedia.org/ http://www.scholarpedia.org/ which is basically wikipedia but written by college professors and domain field experts. It goes very in depth on many topics.
clemesha 9y ago
I built an app based on that exact concept: http://thewikigame.com http://thewikigame.com which has been running for many years, and is now quite popular. The database of the site now contains a large record of millions of game plays of players trying to go from one Wikipedia link to another. See here for some interesting academic research that has been done on the site's dataset: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jSGFRZYrJnlDUBhGbQrO9e-nzqVRn4DohcQMfsgpOJc/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jSGFRZYrJnlDUBhGbQrO9e-n...
- diyseguy 9y ago
  Please make an Android version ty
- krylon 9y ago
  Hehe, that looks like a lot of fun! I know what I'll be doing next weekend! :)
- matthberg 9y ago
  I think that hacker news might have given it a hug of death, I currently have a 'site down' alert when viewing it.
argentenergy 9y ago
It's called link diving
- krylon 9y ago
  Thanks!
guide42 9y ago
Serendipity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity

by krylon 9y ago

zengr 9y ago

I agree. I was pleasantly surprised by the Wikipedia iOS app, it's really addictive https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wikipedia/id324715238?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wikipedia/id324715238?mt=8

orb_yt 9y ago

https://xkcd.com/214/ https://xkcd.com/214/ An interesting side note: if you repeatedly click the first link at the beginning of any wikipedia article (except links in parenthesis) you will always end up at Philosophy.

horns13 9y ago
I started with 'God of War (2018 video game)' and ended up at 'Philosophy'!
hithereagain 9y ago
If you start with Mathematics, you'll end up in a loop: Mathematics > Quantity > Magnitude (mathematics) > Mathematics. Ignoring this backlink, though, it would work: Mathematics > Quantity > Magnitude (mathematics) > Mathematical object > Abstract and concrete > Referent > Linguistics > Science > Knowledge > Fact > Verificationism > Philosophy
- amenod 9y ago
  Also, starting with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Internationaux_de_Strasbourg_%E2%80%93_Doubles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Internationaux_de_Strasbo... (random page) you get into loop around "Languages". But if the algorithm should ignore the already visited links then it would probably work because the pages usually describe something using the higher level concepts first. The question is how much larger the pool of "always found" pages becomes.
wdbbdw 9y ago
Test of n = 1: ("Random article") -> Yūyūki -> 1989 in video gaming -> Golden Joystick Awards -> Video game -> Electronic game -> Game -> Play (activity) -> Psychology -> Behavior -> American English -> Variety (linguistics) -> Sociolinguistics -> Society -> Social group -> Social science -> Discipline (academia) -> Knowledge -> Fact -> Verificationism -> Philosophy That was fun!

subtik 9y ago

a rabbit hole?

jaclaz 9y ago
Cited from Matrix: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/quotes?item=qt0324307 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/quotes?item=qt0324307 which cites Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rabbit%20Hole http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rabbit%20Hole
jonathansizz 9y ago
serendipity.

Mahn 9y ago

Wikipedia is probably the most dangerous procrastination tool on the net. There's not limit there, the rabbit hole just goes deeper and deeper.

Fernicia 9y ago
tvtropes should also be considered in this category.
- krylon 9y ago
  Oh my, yes! I went there to look up one term, and before I knew it the entire afternoon had gone by. OTOH, I learned a lot that afternoon. Watching TV programs has never been the same.

chris_wot 9y ago

The danger isn't reading it, it's writing in it. It could literally drive you to suicide. It did for me, though of course I survived.

spurlock 9y ago

Is it called binging? Or a wikibinge? https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wikibinge https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wikibinge

saboot 9y ago

There's also http://www.scholarpedia.org/ http://www.scholarpedia.org/ which is basically wikipedia but written by college professors and domain field experts. It goes very in depth on many topics.

clemesha 9y ago

I built an app based on that exact concept: http://thewikigame.com http://thewikigame.com which has been running for many years, and is now quite popular. The database of the site now contains a large record of millions of game plays of players trying to go from one Wikipedia link to another. See here for some interesting academic research that has been done on the site's dataset: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jSGFRZYrJnlDUBhGbQrO9e-nzqVRn4DohcQMfsgpOJc/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jSGFRZYrJnlDUBhGbQrO9e-n...

diyseguy 9y ago
Please make an Android version ty
krylon 9y ago
Hehe, that looks like a lot of fun! I know what I'll be doing next weekend! :)
matthberg 9y ago
I think that hacker news might have given it a hug of death, I currently have a 'site down' alert when viewing it.

argentenergy 9y ago

It's called link diving

krylon 9y ago
Thanks!

guide42 9y ago

Serendipity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity