Editing 903: Extended Mind
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | This comic refers to the fact that the narrator has become so dependent on Wikipedia as a source of information that although it gives him the great advantage that he appears learned on any topic with a remarkable degree of specificity, the downside is that whenever Wikipedia goes offline, the limitations of his actual knowledge are revealed | + | This comic refers to the fact that the narrator has become so dependent on Wikipedia as a source of information that although it gives him the great advantage that he appears learned on any topic with a remarkable degree of specificity, the downside is that whenever Wikipedia goes offline, the limitations of his actual knowledge are revealed. |
− | The title, | + | The title, "Extended Mind", refers to a theory proposed by philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers, which postulates that the mind not only includes what can be found in the skull, but also incorporates external things, like Wikipedia. |
− | The title text refers to an observed phenomenon that many of Wikipedia's page links eventually lead to the {{w|Philosophy}} page | + | The title text refers to an {{w|Wikipedia:Getting to Philosophy|observed phenomenon}} that many of Wikipedia's page links eventually lead to the {{w|Philosophy}} page. This may be due to the fact that the first few links in any article tend to reference more general or abstract ideas, which eventually gravitate towards philosophy. This is not actually true, though. It works for the spark plug page and countless others but not for some such as ''Hamlet''. |
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==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
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==Trivia== | ==Trivia== | ||
− | *The error code shown in the right panel | + | *The error code shown in the right panel caused a [http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/wiki/wikitech/236027 bit of a discussion] from the wiki techs. Randall replied with: |
::Randall: "I drew it based on an older error message where the IP was 10.0.0.243. I changed it to 242 (a) because I try not to get too specific with those things, and didn't want people poking the actual machine at .243 (if it was still there) - I actually considered putting .276 and seeing how many people noticed, but figured they'd just think I made a dumb mistake. and (b) as part of this ancient inside joke involving the number 242 ..." | ::Randall: "I drew it based on an older error message where the IP was 10.0.0.243. I changed it to 242 (a) because I try not to get too specific with those things, and didn't want people poking the actual machine at .243 (if it was still there) - I actually considered putting .276 and seeing how many people noticed, but figured they'd just think I made a dumb mistake. and (b) as part of this ancient inside joke involving the number 242 ..." | ||
− | *For a few weeks after this comic came out, following the links as explained in the title text would actually lead only to the Science page, due to someone/someones altering the links. The alterations could have been coincidental, good-faith edits, but were much more likely to be vandalism to break this trick. The edits were eventually reverted, and, as of July 2016, all first links lead to the ocean. Er, Philosophy | + | *For a few weeks after this comic came out, following the links as explained in the title text would actually lead only to the Science page, due to someone/someones altering the links. The alterations could have been coincidental, good-faith edits, but were much more likely to be vandalism to break this trick. The edits were eventually reverted, and, as of July 2016, all first links lead to the ocean. Er, Philosophy. |
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
[[Category:Internet]] | [[Category:Internet]] | ||
[[Category:Wikipedia]] | [[Category:Wikipedia]] |